ISTANBUL
\nPresident Tayyip Erdogan warned on Friday that Turkiye would not tolerate street violence or public disruptions after the detention of Istanbul\u2019s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu prompted some of the biggest shows of civil disobedience in more than a decade.
\n\u201cWe will not accept the disruption of public order. Just as we have never yielded to street terrorism, we will not surrender to vandalism,\u201d Erdogan, 71, told an audience in the capital Ankara.
\nThe warning came after thousands of people protested for two days in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities, including at university campuses, leading to some clashes. Police used water cannon to disperse some crowds and have closed down streets.
\nMore demonstrations are planned later on Friday and tensions could rise at the weekend when a court is expected to rule to formally arrest Imamoglu, Erdogan\u2019s main political rival who leads him in some opinion polls.
\nAn arrest could also accelerate a three-day selloff in Turkish assets that prompted the central bank to intervene to protect the currency.
\nImamoglu, 54, was detained on Wednesday facing charges including graft and aiding a terrorist group. His Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP), the main opposition, condemned the move as politically motivated and urged supporters to demonstrate lawfully.
\nEuropean leaders have called the detention a sign of democratic backsliding in Turkiye.
\nErdogan said it was \u201ca dead end\u201d to take to the streets. \u201cPointing to the streets instead of the courts to defend theft, looting, illegality, and fraud is gravely irresponsible,\u201d he said.
\nAuthorities imposed a four-day ban after the detention and said that 53 people were detained during protests on Thursday.
\nCrackdown and protests
\nTurkiye has curbed civil disobedience since nationwide 2013 Gezi Park protests against the government which prompted a violent state crackdown seen as one of the main pivots toward autocracy under Erdogan\u2019s 22-year reign.
\nThe detention of Imamoglu, the two-term mayor of Turkiye\u2019s largest city, caps a months-long legal crackdown on opposition figures that critics say is designed to undermine their electoral prospects.
\nThe government denies the charges and says the judiciary is independent.
\nCHP leader Ozgur Ozel has said Erdogan fears street protests, called the bans on demonstrations illegal, and has urged people to demonstrate peacefully in defence of their voting rights.
\n\u201cBreak down those barricades without harming the police, take to the streets and squares,\u201d he said.
\nOn Sunday, the CHP is set to announce Imamoglu as its presidential candidate for the next elections and the party has called for non-party members to vote to boost public resistance.
\nThe next election is set for 2028 but, if Erdogan will be eligible to run again, parliament must schedule them earlier.
\nSeeking to avoid further legal hurdles, Ozel said the CHP would convene an extraordinary congress on April 6 to prevent authorities from appointing an outside trustee to the party. An Ankara prosecutor had opened an earlier probe into alleged irregularities around its last congress in 2023.
\nImamoglu\u2019s detention also followed the annulment of his university degree, which, if upheld, would block him from running for president under constitutional rules requiring candidates to hold a four-year degree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISTANBUL President Tayyip Erdogan warned on Friday that Turkiye would not tolerate street violence or public disruptions after the detention of Istanbul\u2019s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu prompted some of the biggest shows of civil disobedience in more than a decade. \u201cWe will not accept the disruption of public order. Just as we have never yielded to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-468428","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n