More than a thousand people have been detained by the police in different cities in Turkiye days after Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu's arrest.
Imamoglu was arrested last week on corruption charges and for aiding a terrorist group.
The arrest is seen as political vendetta intiated by Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as Imamoglu was seen as the strongest political rival Erdogan has faced in years.
In a televised speech to the nation, Erdogan said, 'The demonstrations were evil and blamed Opposition political parties for disturbing the peace of citizens with provocations.'
Imamoglu, from the secular Republican People's Party, stunned Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party when he was elected Istanbul's mayor last year.
As the Turkish saying goes, 'He who rules Istanbul rules Turkiye'.
After his arrest, Imamoglu in an online message to supporters and others, declared, 'The will of the people cannot be silenced.'
The Erdogan government has imposed a four-day ban on protests. Restrictions have been imposed on the movement of vehicles in Turkiye, but people continue to defy the curbs and protest Imamoglu's arrest.
Meanwhile, the Elon Musk-owned X has decided to black out Turkiye's Opposition voices from the microblogging platform.
A day before his arrest, Imamoglu's degree was invalidated by Istanbul University, citing irregularities, threatening his chances to contest the presidential elections in 2028.
A university degree is mandatory for contesting elections, according to Turkish law.
Imamoglu's close aide Murat Ongun too was detained as were 100 others close to him.
Imamoglu is also accused of links to the Kurdistan Workers Party, the armed group which fought Turkiye for decades before ening its struggle last month.
Political observers see Imamoglu's arrest as a sign that Erdogan wants to continue contest the 2028 election.
Erdogan, who is 71, won the 2023 presidential election to secure a third term in office. Before he was elected president, He was Turkiye's prime minister from 2003 to 2014.
First elected president in 2014, he has crushed every political opponent since then.
In 2018, Erdogan abolished the prime minister's post.
Turkiye's constitution stated that no person can hold the presidency beyond two terms.
But Erdogan amended the constitution in 2017 and contested presidential elections in 2023, winning a third term in office.
After he became president, Erdogan has systematically undermined the courts, the military and the media.
In 2021, Erdogan via the United Nations changed Turkey's spelling to Turkiye.
Last year, Erdogan's party was defeated in local elections, losing power in Istanbul and Turkiye's capital city Ankara.
Galloping inflation, devaluation of the Turkish lira vis-vis dollar (1 dollar equals 42 Turkish lira) and unemployment have caused upheaval in the country as Erdogan tries to strangle all voices opposed to him.
In July 2016, Erdogan accused a faction of the Turkish military of trying to stage a coup d' etat.
Soldiers invaded the headquarters of Erdogan's party and fighter jets bombed the parliament building in Ankara.
Erdogan's loyalist soldiers then retaliated, which resulted in 251 deaths and many thousand injured.
The Turkish government blamed Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric and businessman who lived in exile in Pennsylvania, USA.
Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan, denied any involvement in the coup but the Turkish government pinned the blame for the coup on what hey dubbed the Fethullah Terrorist Organization.
Gulen died on October 24, 2020, leaving a vacuum in the Opposition space until Imamoglu's party emerged victorious in the April 2024 local elections, challenging Erdogan's authority once again.
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