Turkey jails Istanbul mayor before trial, stoking opposition anger

ISTANBUL — 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 that inflamed the country’s biggest protests in more than a decade.

The decision to send Imamoglu to jail comes after the main opposition party, European leaders and hundreds of thousands of protesters criticised the actions against him as politicised and undemocratic.

As the courtroom developments unfolded, there were signs that the mayor’s troubles were galvanizing opposition against Erdogan’s government, which has run Turkey for 22 years.

Nearly 15 million Republican People’s Party (CHP) members and non-members, who made up the vast majority, streamed into polling stations nationwide to either elect or endorse Imamoglu as its candidate in a future presidential vote, the party said.

The non-member vote — more than 13 million, according to the CHP — could indicate that Imamoglu, 54, enjoys wide public support beyond the party faithful. The party’s chairman said it showed the need for early elections.

Imamoglu has denied the charges he faces as “unimaginable accusations and slanders” and called for nationwide protests on Sunday. “We will rip away this coup, this dark stain on our democracy, all together,” he said.

Footage showed him being taken to Silivri prison in a police convoy after the ruling. The mayor of Turkey’s largest city was also removed from duty, along with two other district mayors, the interior ministry said.

The government denies that investigations are politically motivated and says courts are independent.

Turkey’s vice president, Cevdet Yilmaz, and Central Bank Governor Fatih Karahan sought separately to calm market jitters that sparked a sharp selloff in Turkish assets since Imamoglu was detained last week, and that analysts expect to accelerate after his jailing.

A nationwide ban on street gatherings was extended on Saturday for four more days but protests, scattered skirmishes with police and some detentions continued in major cities on Sunday, the fifth night of mostly peaceful anti-government demonstrations.