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 officers 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 Party of the Republican People (CHP) of the Opposition of Imamoglu and his supporters say that the accusations against him are politically motivated and undemocratic, which the government of Erdogan denies.
Despite a ban on street rallies in many cities, mostly peaceful anti-government demonstrations continued for a fifth consecutive night on Sunday, with hundreds of thousands of people and the chief of the CHP, Ozgur Ozel, calling protests nationally 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 goods. They will be held responsible for all this, politically in Parliament and legally by the judiciary.”
Earlier, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya accused some demonstrators of “terrorizing” 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 actions on Sunday evening had been the most violent so far, many hospitalized demonstrators.
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.
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 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 reduced 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 demonstrations mark the most significant and widespread public reaction in more than a decade, which makes the trajectory of events that are difficult to foresee,” 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.”
