TÜRKİYE ORTA ASYA HABER KKUORDİNATÖRÜ

NEW STREAT JORNAL... Turkey warns of escalating street protests over detained Istanbul mayor Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 53 people were detained and 16 police officers were injured in protests that began on university campuses and elsewhere. The Turkish government warned on Friday against "illegal" calls by the main opposition for street protests over the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, after thousands of people demonstrated across the country in the past two days. Protesters clashed with police in Istanbul on Thursday. Chris McGrath / Getty Images March 21, 2025, 13:50 GMT+3 / Source: Reuters From Reuters The Turkish government warned on Friday against "illegal" calls by the main opposition for street protests over the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, after thousands of people demonstrated across the country in the past two days. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 53 people were detained and 16 police officers were injured in protests that began on university campuses, at Istanbul’s city hall and elsewhere on Thursday, leading to scattered clashes. İmamoğlu, President Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival and leading in some polls, was detained on Wednesday on charges including corruption and aiding a terrorist group. The mayor’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) condemned the move as politically motivated and called on people to demonstrate legally, while European leaders criticized the detentions as a democratic setback. Yerlikaya and Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç criticized CHP leader Özgür Özel’s calls for action amid a four-day ban on public gatherings as “irresponsible.” “Gathering and marching to protest are fundamental rights. However, taking to the streets is illegal and unacceptable due to an ongoing legal investigation,” Tunç said on X earlier Friday. Tunc said the courtroom was the place to respond to any legal process and called for calm, saying an "independent and impartial judiciary" was considering the case. He warned Erdoğan against linking him to İmamoğlu's arrest. Protests were held in Ankara, İzmir and Istanbul, as well as other provinces across the country, on Thursday, and police set up barricades on several main streets. 'Theatre' Erdoğan described the opposition's criticism as "theatre" and "slogans" that distracted from his own internal mistakes. Speaking at a main rally in Istanbul late Thursday, CHP's Özel said, "Hey Erdoğan, you are most afraid of the streets. We are now on the streets, in the squares. Stay afraid." "We will not sit at home while we detain the person we elected," he told thousands of supporters. Istanbul mayor and Erdoğan rival arrested