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Turkish authorities arrested the lawyer of jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as protests over the crackdown on the opposition leader went on.
“My lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan was detained on fictitious grounds,” Imamoglu said in a post to the X social network on March 27. “As if the coup against democracy was not enough, they cannot tolerate the victims of this coup defending themselves.”
The opposition leader went on to accuse President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government of wanting “to add a legal coup to the coup against democracy.”
“The evil that a handful of incompetent people are inflicting on our country is growing. Release my lawyer immediately,” he added.
Politico, citing Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, said that Pehlivan was taken to a police station but no criminal charges were immediately announced.
Imamoglu was arrested on May 19 on corruption and terrorism charges before he was expected to be nominated as the Republican People’s Party (CHP) main candidate for the presidency. Earlier on March 24, the popular opposition leader was jailed and stripped of his duties pending trial over the corruption charges.
Overnight, protests against the crackdown on Imamoglu continued in Istanbul and a number of other Turkish cities. Clashes with riot police were reported.
In a guest op-ed for The New York Times on March 28, Imamoglu accused Erdogan of turning Turkey into a “republic of fear” by dismantling democratic institutions and suppressing critics.
“For years, Mr Erdogan’s regime has gnawed away at democratic checks and balances – silencing the media, replacing elected mayors with bureaucrats, sidelining the legislature, controlling the judiciary and manipulating elections,” the leader wrote.
“The large-scale arrests of protesters and journalists in recent months have sent a chilling message: No one is safe,” he warned.
The opposition leader also criticized what he described as international “silence” over the recent acts of the Turkish government.
“But central governments around the world? Their silence is deafening,” he wrote, citing a weak response from the United States and European leaders.
The crackdown on Imamoglu dealt a serious blow to the Turkish economy, with the government reportedly spending nearly $20 billion defending the lira.
So far, Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) appear to be in control of the situation. However, the situation could deteriorate further due to the lack of any meaningful economic reforms.
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