Police have detained more than 1,100 people, officials—including journalists—since the arrest of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main rival triggered some of Turkey's worst unrest in years.
The demonstrations began in Istanbul after Ekrem Imamoglu's arrest last week and have since spread to more than 55 of Turkey's 81 provinces, sparking clashes with riot police and drawing international condemnation.
The popular 53-year-old has been widely seen as the only politician who could defeat Turkey's longtime leader Erdogan at the ballot box.
In just four days he went from being the mayor of Istanbul—a post that launched Erdogan's political rise decades earlier—to being arrested, interrogated, jailed, and stripped of the mayorship as a result of a graft and terror probe.
On Sunday, he was overwhelmingly voted in as the main opposition CHP's candidate for the 2028 presidential run, with the ballot—which was opened beyond the party's 1.7 million members—attracting 15 million votes.
A party spokesman confirmed his election as the party's candidate.
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https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20250324-turkey-detains-1-100-protesters-and-several-journalists-after-erdogan-rival-arrested
