Jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, called on supporters to gather in central İstanbul on Wednesday night to mark the first anniversary of the legal crackdown that led to his detention, as a major corruption trial against him and hundreds of others continued at the Silivri prison court complex, Turkish Minute reported.
İmamoğlu, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said in a message shared on social media that people should meet in Saraçhane, the square beside İstanbul City Hall that became the center of mass protests after his detention in March 2025. He described the case against him as the “March 19 coup” and said, “On the first anniversary of the March 19 coup, we are meeting where it all began.”
CHP spokesperson Zeynel Emre also called on supporters to join the rally at 8:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday.
Saraçhane became a symbol of opposition resistance last year after courts jailed İmamoğlu pending trial on corruption charges that he and his party deny. His detention triggered Turkey’s largest anti-government protests in more than a decade, with hundreds of thousands gathering in squares, streets and university campuses to demand his release.
The rally call came as the second week of the sweeping municipality trial continued on Tuesday in Silivri. The case involves more than 400 defendants tied to the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality and accuses İmamoğlu of leading a profit-driven criminal network involving bid rigging and bribery.
İmamoğlu and the CHP say the charges are politically motivated and aimed at blocking President Erdoğan’s strongest challenger from the next presidential race.
Tuesday’s hearing appeared to expose strain in part of the prosecution’s witness narrative. Turkish media reported that Ümit Polat, a municipal company purchasing manager who had given incriminating testimony under Turkey’s “effective remorse” system, said he wanted to correct part of an earlier statement after what he described as a harsh detention period and psychological pressure. He also said he had not personally seen money being handed over, a point likely to strengthen defense arguments that the case relies too heavily on inference and secondhand claims rather than direct evidence.
Other defendants also challenged the prosecution’s evidence in court on Tuesday, according to live local coverage, with some saying the accusations against them were built on hearsay, assumption and changing testimony from cooperating witnesses. Courtroom access remained contentious as well. Turkish reports said Nuri Aslan, the acting mayor chosen after İmamoğlu’s jailing, was initially blocked from entering the hearing area before later being allowed in.
İmamoğlu, 55, has been in pretrial detention for nearly a year. His legal troubles have expanded beyond the municipality case, and his presidential prospects were also hit by a separate ruling that invalidated his university degree, a constitutional requirement for presidential candidates in Turkey.
The next presidential election is scheduled for 2028, though the opposition believes Erdoğan could seek an earlier vote in 2027 to preserve his eligibility to run again.
In his rally message, İmamoğlu urged Turks not to put hope in a single leader but in collective action, saying the country needed a journey shaped by reason and the will of the people. For the CHP, Wednesday night’s gathering is meant to show that one year after the operation against İstanbul’s opposition-run municipality, the case still stands at the center of Turkey’s fight over democracy.
