Turkey suspended the powers of the opposition mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, after his arrest on corruption charges. About this informs Hurriyet Daily News.
On March 23, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey announced the temporary removal of Imamoglu from his post in connection with his detention.
The mayor of Istanbul was taken into custody on Wednesday on suspicion of corruption and aiding a terrorist organization. On Sunday, the court decided to keep him under arrest, although the court did not uphold the accusation of ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Imamoglu’s lawyers plan to appeal this decision.
The arrest may affect the selection process for his replacement. If Imamoglu remains in custody, the new mayor is usually elected from among the members of the municipal council by voting within the same political party. However, some Turkish experts suggest that even the fact of a terrorism investigation could give the government reason to appoint its own proxy.
Together with Imamoglu, the court arrested his assistant Murat Ongun and the director of the construction company Tuncay Yilmaz. A total of 22 suspects detained at the beginning of the week are under arrest. Several persons have been released under judicial control with a ban on traveling abroad and the obligation to regularly report to the authorities.
We will remind that the detention of Imamoglu took place against the background of large-scale protests by his supporters. All over Turkey, the rallies caused by the arrest of the politician have been going on for several days. Demonstrators consider his detention to be politically motivated and express their indignation at the actions of the authorities.
