Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev, in his capacity as Chairman of the B40 Balkan Cities Network and Vice Chairman of the Eurocities Network of European Cities, and Barcelona Mayor Jaume Colboni were among the guests at the stand at last night's rally organized in downtown Istanbul – – – – – Beyoglu; by the opposition Republican People's Party (RPP) in support of Ekrem Imamoglu and the party's imprisoned mayors, BTA reported.
The rally under the title – The People Stand Up for Their Will– was broadcast live by the opposition TV channels “HalkTV“ , “Sözcü“ and “Cumhuriyet TV“.
The leader of the People's Democratic Party Özgür Özel introduced the European guests from the podium.
The “Eurocities“ delegation, consisting of 10 mayors from various European cities, will hold talks in Istanbul during the day. The delegation will present the “Special Democracy Award“ of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the elected mayor of the Greater Istanbul Municipality, who is currently imprisoned in Silivri, Özel said.
According to him, the European representatives are expected to make statements after meeting with İmamoğlu and also visit the Greater Istanbul Municipality.
Last night's rally was the 50th that the HDP has organized since March 19 in various municipalities of the metropolis and in various cities in Turkey in support of the arrested İmamoğlu and the other HDP mayors. This is the first protest to be organized in the heart of the metropolis, as it is called “Beyoğlu“.
The mayor of “Beyoğlu“ Inan Güney was arrested in the latest wave of mayor arrests a few weeks ago along with 17 others. The latest arrest has sparked strong protests. In the election for a new mayor of “Beyoğlu“, the PKK representative in the municipal council managed to win and thus the PKK retained the municipality.
“Şişhane“ Square in front of the “Beyoğlu“ municipality building was like a sea of people, civil organizations, unions, who arrived for the rally, the private news agency “Anka“ reported. During the day, the authorities in Istanbul closed the stops on the metro line that passes through “Beyoğlu“. However, last night's rally was the largest since the rallies that began on March 19 in front of the Saraçhane Metropolitan Municipality building, the Birgunj newspaper reported.
“Freedom for mayors”, ”Imamoğlu is president”, “Either together or no one”, ”We want elections”, ”AKP condemns us to poverty”, “We want mayor İnan Güney”, were the words read on the numerous slogans.
A letter from İmamoğlu, written from Silivri prison, was read at the rally.
“To date, 10 million people have stood up for our presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, for our friends. I appeal to Erdogan and his apparatus in the judiciary. You cannot intimidate us. You have made nine waves of arrests so far, even if you make 99 waves, we are here, we are in one place, we are in action“, said Özel, quoted by pro-opposition media.
Özel's nearly one-hour speech was often interrupted by exclamations of “Justice, law, equality“.
“Şişhane“ Square was surrounded by barricades, many police officers, armored cars.
The rally lasted nearly two hours.
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Aug 28, 2025 05:06 345