Erdogan Condemns ‘Movement of Violence’ After Sixth Night of Turkish Protests

Turkey’s president called on the main opposition party to stop provoking demonstrations in support of Istanbul’s detained mayor.

University students sit next to riot police officers during a protest after Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested and sent to prison, in Istanbul on March 24, 2025. Huseyin Aldemir/AP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the protests against the arrest and detention of Istanbul’s mayor had become a “movement of violence.”

Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, 54, Erdogan’s main political rival, was arrested on corruption and terrorism charges on March 19, triggering the biggest street protests in Turkey since the Gezi Park demonstrations in May 2013.

Thousands of largely peaceful anti-government demonstrations took place for a sixth consecutive night on Monday, despite an official ban on public gatherings.

Terrorism charges against Imamoglu—who is a member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP)—have been dropped, but on Sunday, he was remanded in custody pending trial on corruption charges. He denies the charges.

Despite Imamoglu’s detention and pending trial, the CHP held a primary election among its 1.7 million members on Sunday, resulting in his selection as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2028 election.

The CHP also said millions of independent voters voted for Imamoglu—who is being held in Silivri prison, west of Istanbul—in what it called a “solidarity ballot.”

Last week, Istanbul University annulled Imamoglu’s university diploma, making him ineligible to be a presidential candidate.

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel, speaking to a crowd in front of the headquarters of the Istanbul municipality headquarters, said the charges against Imamoglu were baseless, unfounded, and not supported by evidence.

He repeated calls for people to continue protesting and said they should boycott shops, brands, and media he called pro-Erdogan.

“Whoever Tayyip Erdogan unjustly puts in jail, this square is defending them, for democracy and for Turkey,” Ozel said.

Erdogan Blames Opposition

Erdogan, 71, said the opposition party should stop “provoking” citizens.

“As a nation, we followed with surprise the events that emerged after the main opposition leader’s call to take to the streets following an Istanbul-based corruption operation turned into a movement of violence,” he said after a cabinet meeting in Ankara on Monday. “The main opposition is responsible for our [injured] police officers, the broken windows of our shopkeepers, and the damaged public property. They will be held accountable for all this, politically in parliament and legally by the judiciary.”

Erdogan and his Islamist-leaning Justice and Development Party (AKP), founded in 2001, have been in power since winning a general election in November 2002, defeating the CHP, which was founded by Kemal Ataturk in 1923 on secular principles.

Erdogan served as prime minister until 2014. After a constitutional amendment approved in a 2017 referendum, he became the executive president. Following his reelection in 2023, he is now term-limited and cannot run again in 2028.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Monday that 1,133 people were detained during the first five days of the protests, and 123 police officers had been injured.

He accused some of the demonstrators of “terrorizing” the streets and threatening national security.

Ozel said the CHP was demanding Imamoglu be given bail ahead of his trial, and for the legal proceedings to be broadcast on the state broadcaster, TRT.

He also challenged Erdogan to a televised debate.

A meeting of the EU-Turkey joint parliamentary committee was postponed on Monday.

The committee’s chairman, Emmanouil Kefalogiannis, and vice-chairs Mélissa Camara and Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus said in a statement, “In light of recent developments in Türkiye, the bureau of the European Parliament delegation to the EU-Türkiye joint parliamentary committee concluded that the current circumstances are not conducive to holding the 82nd meeting of the EU-Türkiye joint parliamentary committee at this time and unanimously decided to postpone the meeting.”

Items on the agenda at the committee’s 81st meeting, in November 2024, included “EU-Türkiye relations and state of play of the accession negotiations,” and “EU and Türkiye: customs union, visa liberalization, migration, freedom of expression, rule of law.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.