— After Turkey's largest witch hunt in Maltepe Square, 2.2 million people gathered. You see that, president Erdogan? You were going to intimidate the youth, but there's no 1 with fear. You wanted to silence the universities, but are any of them silent?” said Ozel during the CHP demonstration “Freedom for Imamoglu” in the Asian part of the city.
He called for "defence of democracy on the streets". “Some effort to decision towards a one-man regime, a sultan of their dreams, a caliphate. They only treat democracy as a tool, so it is right to defend it, and the place of this fight is the street," said the CHP leader.
Demonstration reaction to the arrest of main rival Erdogan
Turkey's biggest protests in over a decade have been a consequence to the detention of 19 March Ekrem Imamoglu, erstwhile mayor of Istanbul and chief political rival of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Anti-Imamoglu proceedings were opened on corruption and links with terrorism, and on the basis of the first charge he was sent to prison on 23 March for the duration of the trial. On the same day, CHP elected Imamoglu as a candidate in the 2028 presidential election.
“The Imamoglu process should be broadcast live on Turkish public television,” said Ozel.
Imamoglu's different speech
Imamoglu besides spoke to those in Maltepe. “The nation has shown that our country belongs to him. I will not go back a step towards the wonderful future that our country deserves,” said the politician in the video prepared with artificial intelligence; the content of the speech prepared by Imamoglu read his character generated by AI.
Previously, the mayor of Ankara Mansur Yavas, from the CHP, appealed for the closure of Marmar's prison on the outskirts of Istanbul, to which Imamoglu was placed. “This prison has become a symbol of the usurpation of freedom in our country. alternatively of bragging about building prisons, we should start bragging about closing them. We request that all elected mayors, including Imamoglu, and our youths be freed," Yavas said.
Imamoglu's household besides spoke at the demonstration
Also close to Imamoglu, including his children, wife and parents, appeared on stage. “My boy serves the state, loves his nation, and the nation loves him,” said my parent politician, ending her message with the son’s electoral slogan “Everything is going to be beautiful.”
The wife of erstwhile Mayor of Istanbul, Dilek Imamoglu, appealed for the release of detainees for participation in protests. “We cannot be a country where Turks endure at the hands of another Turks,” she said. Commenting on her husband's arrest, she said that “he is being punished for being loved by people who are not loved by his opponents.”
In consequence to protests that broke out on 19 March following the detention of Imamoglu in Turkey’s largest cities, nearly 1,900 people have been detained, according to information from the Turkish Ministry of the Interior. The governors of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir introduced convention bans in these cities.
