Turkey Detains 37 for Social Media Posts About Detained Istanbul Mayor

The Turkish government on Thursday announced 37 people were arrested for “provocative” social media posts related to Wednesday’s arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and chief political rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Imamoglu, rising star of the opposition CHP party, was detained Wednesday on charges of corruption and aiding the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant Kurdish separatist group. Imamoglu supporters and CHP officials denounced the arrest as a naked political ploy by Erdogan to knock out his top rival for the 2028 presidential election.

One hundred and five other people were arrested along with Imamoglu on Wednesday, most of them employees of the Istanbul municipal government. Imamoglu scored a stunning upset victory for mayor in 2019 after Erdogan’s AKP party had held the office for 25 years.

Erdogan banned public demonstrations, filled the streets with riot police, shut down major roads, and imposed restrictions on social media when Imamoglu was arrested, correctly sensing a massive backlash was brewing. Large demonstrations calling for Erdogan’s government to resign were held despite the police presence, and a great deal of criticism flourished on social media despite the blackouts.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Thursday that 18.6 million social media posts were written about Imamoglu within 24 hours of his arrest. 261 social media accounts were cited by the interior minister for writing “provocative posts inciting crime and hatred,” 62 of them based outside of Turkey.

“Thirty-seven suspects were caught and efforts are continuing to catch the other suspects,” he said.

Imamoglu, or someone posting in his name, wrote a post on X on Thursday calling on the Turkish people to “stand against this evil as a nation,” and calling upon members of Erdogan’s party to abandon him.

“These events have gone beyond our parties, political ideals. The process is now concerning our people, namely your families. It is time to raise our voices,” the Imamoglu post said.

Erdogan has been in power for 22 years, and while he is technically barred from running again in 2028 — or sooner, if parliament calls early elections — he is widely expected to change the Turkish constitution to remove term limits on his office. Some current polling suggests he would lose to Imamoglu if both of them run.

Turkish judicial officials insisted Imamoglu’s arrest was not political and was not ordered by Erdogan, but those claims have been met with great skepticism, including from the European Union.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called Imamoglu’s arrest “deeply concerning,” while German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that “the space for opposition politicians is getting smaller and smaller” in Erdogan’s Turkey.

Imamoglu’s arrest has been a disaster for the frail Turkish economy. CNBC on Thursday said the economy was in “free fall” due to investor panic. Turkish stocks suffered the largest drop in the world on Wednesday, while the lira fell by so much that the Turkish central bank had to sell off $10 billion in foreign currency to prop it up.

Emerging markets strategist Timothy Ash of BlueBay Asset Management warned on Wednesday that Turkey’s economic meltdown will get worse, unless the government can “produce a compelling case” to justify arresting Imamoglu.

Washington Institute senior fellow and Turkish historian Soner Cagaptay found that possibility unlikely because Erdogan clearly panicked and “opted for the nuclear option” to take Imamoglu out of the presidential race.

“Polls presented to Erdogan were likely showing that, even with his incumbency advantages and complete control of institutions and media, Imamoglu was still defeating him by wide margins,” Cagaptay said.

Erdogan may have been prodded to take that nuclear option before Imamoglu could official receive his party’s nomination for president on Sunday. Control Risks senior analyst George Dyson told CNBC that Erdogan may also have felt this was the best opportunity he would get to arrest Imamoglu, even if the election is three years away, because the U.S. and EU need Turkey’s support for the crises in Ukraine and Syria.