Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was officially arrested on Sunday over corruption charges, media reports said.
The Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reported that Imamoglu faced accusations of “bribery, corruption, qualified fraud, illegally obtaining personal data for profit and tampering with a tender.
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Imamoglu had been under interrogation in police custody at the Istanbul Police Headquarters since his detention on Wednesday, in connection with two investigations related to terrorism and corruption.
Upon completing his interrogation at the police station, he was escorted to the main courthouse at around 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) on Saturday under heavy police presence for further legal proceedings. The mayor denied all the accusations against him.
Imamoglu was released under judicial control in connection with the terrorism investigation, in which he is accused of aiding and assisting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the US, Xinhua news agency reported.
In February, Imamoglu applied to the Republican People’s Party (CHP) to become a presidential candidate for the 2028 elections.
The CHP is expected to officially declare Imamoglu as its presidential candidate following a vote by party members, which began at 8 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and is set to end at 5 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) on Sunday.
Imamoglu was re-elected for a second term as mayor of Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, after his decisive victory in the local elections held in 2024, over his rival Murat Kurum, a candidate from the ruling Justice and Development Party.
President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday accused the CHP’s leadership of turning the party “into an apparatus to absolve a handful of municipal robbers who have become blinded by money.”
He also accused it of “doing everything to disturb the public peace and to polarise the nation.”
Opposition figures say the arrests are politically motivated. But the Ministry of Justice has criticised those who link Erdogan to the arrests and insisted on its judicial independence.
Thousands have taken to the streets across Turkey in largely peaceful demonstrations. Authorities tried to stifle demonstrations with a four-day ban on all gatherings in Istanbul, which was extended to Ankara and Izmir as the protests spread.
