The Istanbul City Council will elect an interim mayor to replace the arrested and already removed from office Ekrem Imamoglu at a meeting on March 26, reported “Türkiye Today“, citing the Istanbul Governorship, BTA reported.
On the same day, an election will be held for an interim mayor of the Istanbul district of Beylikdüzü, where Mayor Mehmet Murat Çalık was also removed.
The court today ordered Imamoglu and Çalık to be arrested on suspicion of corruption.
The situation is different with the mayor of the Istanbul district of Şişli, Resul Emrah Şahan. The court arrested him on suspicion of “supporting an armed terrorist organization“, which is why the Turkish Interior Ministry appointed a deputy in his place. This is the district governor, Cevdet Ertürkmen.
The arrests of Imamoglu and dozens of municipal officials from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) have sparked a wave of protests in Turkey despite a ban on mass gatherings imposed by the authorities in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, which was extended until March 26. The Turkish government has categorically denied accusations that the judicial retrial against Imamoglu and his associates is political.
The Istanbul Governorship today announced the closure of a number of streets in the city, which will also remain in effect at least until Wednesday.
Imamoglu is considered the main opposition contender for the presidency. Today, the HRP is holding internal elections for its nomination, with Imamoglu as its sole candidate.
The X platform has blocked several accounts belonging to Turkish opposition figures amid mass opposition protests following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Politico reported, citing observers and Turkish opposition figures, BTA reports.
Imamoglu was detained on corruption and terrorism charges days before he was nominated as the main opposition party's candidate for the 2028 presidential election.
The accounts blocked were mainly "accounts of university-affiliated activists who mainly share information about protests, places for students to go," he told Politico. Yusuf Can, coordinator and analyst in the Wilson Center's Middle East program.
It appears that some accounts are blocked only in Turkey.
Activist Ömer Faruk Aslan created a second account to avoid the restrictions. "Yesterday, my account was blocked by a court order because the number of views on my posts exceeded 6 million," he wrote.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote in Ex that authorities had identified 326 accounts on social media that were inciting hatred, 72 of which were located abroad. There have been 54 arrests related to social media activity, Yerlikaya reported.
Turkish law allows blocking of social media accounts at the request of the government.
The publication commented that this is not the first time that Ex has complied with requests from the Turkish government to block accounts. In the second half of 2024, the platform complied with 86 percent of requests from Turkish authorities, compared to 68 percent in the first half. At the same time, Ex has complied with about 90 percent of similar requests from the European Union, but Turkish authorities make about six times as many such requests per capita, according to reports cited by “Politico“.
Ex has not yet responded to “Politico“s request for comment.