Following the detention and subsequent arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, 337 people — including writers, academics and politicians — have called on the Turkish people to form a “democracy alliance,” the T24 news website reported.
The group expressed deep concern over what they described as a dangerous course of events, culminating in the arrest of İmamoğlu and his colleagues. They said the government’s actions, which undermine constitutional rights, democracy and peace, must be stopped
“We see that this mindset, which uses the judiciary to eliminate all opposition, intimidate the public, silence society, disregard justice and the rule of law and ignore the political will of the people, is dragging our country toward disaster.
While standing alongside all democratic forces resisting this course, we join them in saying, ‘Enough, stop!’ and call on all segments of society who stand for peace, democracy, law and justice to unite in a democracy alliance.”
İmamoğlu and two İstanbul district mayors were among more than 100 people targeted by detention orders issued by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor on March 19. He was arrested on March 23 and remanded to pretrial detention on charges including bribery, embezzlement and unlawful acquisition of personal data.
İmamoğlu is widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest potential political challenger. His arrest has sparked nights of street protests on a scale unseen in Turkey since 2013. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on Monday that police have detained more than 1,133 people for participating in the demonstrations. Turkish prosecutors have requested the pretrial detention of 206 individuals, including protesters, journalists and others taken into custody in Istanbul.
