Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that demonstrations against the imprisonment of the mayor of Istanbul had become a “movement of violence” and that the main opposition party would be held responsible for injured police and damage caused to property.
The detention last Wednesday of the mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the main political rival of Erdogan last Wednesday, sparked the biggest street demonstrations in Türkiye in more than a decade. On Sunday, a court imprisoned him, pending the trial, for corruption he denies.
The Principal Party of the Republican People (CHP) of the opposition of opposition of Imamoglu and his supporters say that the charges held against him are politically motivated and anti -democratic, that the government of Erdogan denies.
Despite a ban on street rallies in many cities, mostly peaceful anti-government demonstrations continued for a sixth consecutive night on Monday, with hundreds of thousands of people and the CHP chief, Ozgur Ozel, repeating a call for national demonstrations to continue.
Speaking after a meeting of the cabinet in Ankara, Erdogan said that the CHP should stop “provoking” citizens.
“As a nation, we have followed with surprise the events that emerged after the call of the main opposition chief to descend in the streets following a corruption operation based in Istanbul turned into a movement of violence,” said the 71 -year -old president.
“The main opposition is responsible for our (injured) police officers, broken windows from our traders and damaged public property. They will be held responsible for all this, politically in the Parliament and legally by the judiciary. ”
Earlier, the Minister of the Interior, Ali Yerlikaya, accused some demonstrators of having “terrorized” the streets and threatening national security. He said 1,133 people had been arrested during five days of demonstrations and that 123 police officers were injured.
A CHP delegation met the Governor of Istanbul to discuss the police ‘repression against the demonstrators. Party’s head of Istanbul, Ozgur Celik, said that police intervention Sunday evening had been the most violent so far, many hospitalized people.
Addressing hundreds of thousands of people in front of the headquarters of the municipality of Istanbul in Sarachane again, the chief of the CHP, Ozel, repeated a call to boycott the media, brands and stores which he called Pro-Erdogan, adding all the charges against the Imamoglu were without base, unfounded and without proof.
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“Whoever Tayyip Erdogan is unjustly put in prison, this place defends them, for democracy and for Turkey,” said Ozel, who also called for continuous demonstrations while crowds agitate flags and chant slogans calling the government to resign.
Ozel added that his party would also call on Imamoglu to be published while waiting for the trial and trial to be broadcast on the TRT state broadcaster. And he challenged Erdogan to a televised debate, while calling on the demonstrators to maintain public order and avoid clashes.
Before Ozel’s address, at the Galata historic bridge in Istanbul, a sit-in demonstration blocked traffic on both sides of the bridge, while others gathered elsewhere in the city, in Ankara and other cities.
A few moments after Ozel finished his speech, the police pulled pellets and tear gas and used water cannons to disperse the demonstrators in Istanbul, while holding several people. In Ankara, demonstrators stood in front of trucks carrying canons of water and asked the police to let them walk in peace.
The demonstrators say that the mayor imprisoned “without reason”
Imamoglu, 54, was imprisoned pending trial on Sunday because the CHP held a primary election to appoint him presidential candidate. Some 15 million votes were expressed in support of the mayor.
The news of the arrest of Imamoglu covered the first pages of the Turkish newspapers on Monday, the opposition media suggesting that the mayor was arrested to be the most credible challenger of Erdogan.
Supporters of the mayor said that Imamoglu’s imprisonment had demonstrated a lack of justice in Türkiye.
“I think there is an injustice committed against Imamoglu. They put the man in prison without reason,” said Adem Bali, a 22 -year -old construction worker.
Rights defense groups and European countries have said that the arrest of Imamoglu has marked democratic decline and criticized the police intervention. Germany said that the continuation of Turkey’s membership in the EU, which it has targeted for decades, had sounded “more and more hollow”.
A meeting of the joint parliamentary committee of the EU-Turkey was postponed Monday after the European party “concluded that the current circumstances are not conducive” to the holding of the meeting, he said in a statement.
A CHP official said on Monday that the party would have called on a decision at the University of Istanbul on Monday to cancel the Imamoglu diploma – required for the eligibility for a presidential race – and the lawyers also worked on appeal to the mayor’s arrest.
Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish policy for more than two decades and has no immediate test in the polls, said that the events of the last days have shown that the CHP was not able to manage local municipalities, not to mention the nation.
He also sought to reassure investors who sold Turkish assets last week following the news of the detention of Imamoglu, the sending of shares, bonds and the liing currency currency and inciting the central bank to intervene with exchange sales and other stabilization measures.
“Our main priority is to protect macrofinal stability. The Ministry of the Treasury and Finance, the Central Bank, all the relevant institutions, with our support, work day and night in full coordination, by doing all the necessary stages, “said Erdogan.
The Istanbul Stock Exchange Reference index .xu was prepared for a few losses on Monday after having dropped 16.6% last week, its worst decline since the global financial crisis in October 2008.
Analysts expect an extended period of political disorders and uncertainty.
“The manifestations mark the most significant and widespread public reaction in more than a decade, which makes the trajectory of events that are difficult to predict,” said Wolfango Piccoli, co -president of Teneo Consultancy.
“Once again, the political agenda of President Erdogan has imposed serious damage to the economic prospects of Turkey.”
