Dozens arrested as the investigation that saw Istanbul's mayor jailed deepens

ISTANBUL – Police successful Istanbul detained 47 radical Saturday successful dawn raids linked to a corruption probe that saw the city’s politician imprisoned past month, starring to Turkey’s largest protests successful much than a decade.

Among those arrested successful Istanbul, the neighboring state of Tekirdag and the capital, Ankara, were elder officials from Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, section media reported.

The March 19 detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 22-year rule, saw hundreds of thousands of radical flood the streets of Turkish cities to protestation what galore see a politically motivated case. The authorities insists Turkey’s judicial strategy is independent.

In a statement, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said simultaneous operations were conducted against 53 suspects, six of whom stay astatine large. Searches were continuing astatine homes and workplaces, it added.

Demonstrations against Imamoglu’s jailing and wider antiauthoritarian backsliding saw much than 2,000 radical arrested for taking portion successful banned protests past month. Many of them were students but journalists and trades unionists were besides among the detainees.

Imamoglu, who besides faces terror-related charges successful a parallel probe launched past month, was nominated the statesmanlike campaigner for his Republican People’s Party, oregon CHP, portion successful prison. Elections are owed successful 2028 but could travel earlier.

The cases against him, which see several others that pre-date the March investigations, could spot him banned from politics.

The CHP-supporting Cumhuriyet paper reported that Saturday’s arrests included the lawman caput wide of Istanbul municipality, Imamoglu’s backstage caput and the caput of the city’s h2o company. Gokhan Gunaydin, a elder CHP lawmaker, said the municipality was being “effectively rendered inoperable” by the arrests.

The woman of Imamoglu’s advisor was besides detained Saturday. The advisor was among immoderate 100 arrested successful March’s question of arrests and remains successful prison.

Demonstrations against what the absorption calls the “March 19 coup” are continuing, though connected a smaller scale. Ankara governor’s bureau said Saturday that 30 radical were arrested astatine a protestation the erstwhile evening. The CHP was owed to clasp a rally aboriginal Saturday successful the Mediterranean metropolis of Mersin.

The enactment won a swath of large cities successful 2019 section elections, making further gains successful past year’s polls. In Istanbul, Imamoglu’s triumph ended 25 years of power for Erdogan’s enactment and its predecessors.

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