A Turkish court on Sunday jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, pending trial on corruption charges, in a move likely to inflame the country’s biggest protests in more than a decade.
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İmamoglu was first taken into custody on Wednesday and was formally arrested on Sunday. He was also removed as mayor of Istanbul.
The decision to send Imamoglu to prison comes after the main opposition party, European leaders and tens of thousands of protesters criticised the actions against him as politicised and undemocratic.
Some 15 million people voted in Sunday’s symbolic primary organised by Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in a mass show of support for Imamoglu, the municipality said.
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“Out of a total of 15 million votes, 13,211,000 are solidarity votes,” the municipality said of the long-planned primary at which Imamoglu was to have been named the party’s candidate for the 2028 presidential race.
Observers said it was the looming primary that triggered the move against Imamoglu, widely seen as the only politician capable of challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.