Istanbul council elects interim mayor after Imamoglu's jailing

Istanbul’s municipal council elected an interim mayor on Wednesday to run the city following the imprisonment of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu pending trial on corruption charges that he and his supporters deny and call politicised, Reuters has quoted broadcaster NTV as saying.

The detention of Imamoglu last week triggered the largest anti-government demonstrations in Turkiye in over a decade and led to mass arrests, as hundreds of thousands heeded opposition calls and took to the streets in mostly peaceful protests. The jailed mayor is the biggest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Imamoglu’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Western leaders, other opposition parties and rights groups have said that his imprisonment since Sunday is an anti-democratic move aimed at eliminating an electoral threat to Erdogan.

The government denies influence over the judiciary and says that the courts are independent. Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for over two decades, has dismissed the nationwide protests as a “show”, warned of legal consequences and called on the CHP to stop “provoking” Turks.

READ: Turkiye detains more than 1,100 in protests since Istanbul mayor’s arrest, minister says

Istanbul’s 314-member council, where the CHP holds a majority, elected the party’s Nuri Aslan to run the city with 177 votes, according to NTV. The interim mayor will run the city for the remainder of Imamoglu’s term, as he awaits trial.

The election of an interim mayor prevents the government from appointing a trustee to run the municipality, as it has done in several other cities, particularly in the mainly Kurdish south east, amid a months-long legal crackdown on the opposition.

Since Imamoglu’s detention, Turkish financial assets have plunged, prompting the central bank to use reserves to support the lira. The government has said that the impact of the fluctuations would be limited and temporary.

The CHP has said that it will continue to rally and put pressure on the government. It has called for a boycott of several media outlets, brands and stores that it says are pro-Erdogan.

The opposition party also plans to convene an extraordinary congress on 6 April to prevent the authorities from appointing a trustee to run the party after prosecutors launched a probe into alleged irregularities around its last congress in 2023.

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