Police use force to break up protests at a university in Turkey's
capital
[March 28, 2025]
By ROBERT BADENDIECK and ANDREW WILKS
ISTANBUL (AP) — Police used pepper spray, plastic pellets and water
cannon against protesters in Turkey’s capital early Thursday, the latest
clash in the country’s biggest anti-government protests in over a
decade.
The demonstrations began last week following the arrest of Istanbul
Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Imamoglu was jailed pending trial on corruption charges many see as
politically motivated and is also accused of supporting terrorism. The
government insists the judiciary is independent, but critics say the
evidence in Imamoglu's case is based on secret witnesses and lacks
credibility.
Early Thursday, student demonstrators tried to march and gathered to
read a statement near the gates at Middle East Technical University,
pro-opposition broadcaster Halk TV and local media reported. They were
met by security forces who deployed pepper spray, water cannon and
plastic pellets. A standoff ensued where the students hid behind a
barricade of dumpsters until the police charged to detain them.
Melih Meric, a legislator with Imamoglu’s Republican People’s Party or
CHP, was seen soaked with water and suffering from pepper spray
exposure.
“My student friends only wanted to make a press statement, but the
police strictly did not allow it, this is the result,” Meric said in
social media videos.
Imamoglu's lawyer detained
Imamoglu’s lawyer, Mehmet Pehlivan, who has represented him in multiple
cases and in proceedings following his arrest, was detained late
Thursday, according to a post on Imamoglu's social media account. No
formal charges were immediately announced.
“There is no end to lies or slander in the prohibitionist mind,"
Imamoglu wrote on X. “This time, my lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan was detained
on fictitious grounds. As if the coup against democracy was not enough,
they cannot tolerate the victims of this coup defending themselves. They
want to add a legal coup to the coup against democracy. The evil that a
handful of incompetent people are inflicting on our country is growing.
Release my lawyer immediately.”
Opposition leaning Cumhuriyer newspaper reported that Pehlivan was taken
to the Vatan central precinct in Istanbul.
Nearly 1,900 arrested
Interior Minister Ali Yerkikaya said Thursday that nearly 1,900 people
have been arrested over eight days of massive protests across the
country. He said that 1,879 suspects were detained, including 260 who
were jailed pending trial. A further 468 were released under judicial
control while their cases continue. Proceedings are ongoing for 662
other people.
The minister said some faced charges for drug offenses and assault,
adding that 150 police officers had been injured. He did not specify the
nature of other charges but offenses such as resisting police and not
complying with a ban on protests and gatherings have been cited
previously.
Demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of largely peaceful
protesters have swept across major cities, including
opposition-organized rallies outside Istanbul City Hall. Other major
protests have been held in Istanbul’s districts of Kadikoy and Sisli
districts in recent days.
Some demonstrations have been marred by violence as police used water
cannons, tear gas, plastic pellets and pepper spray to breakup protests
that have been banned in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
Police continued to carry out house raids targeting protesters Thursday
morning. Most of those detained in their homes appear to belong to
left-wing parties, trade unions and civil society groups.
Media crackdown
Eleven journalists were arrested and sent to jail Wednesday after
covering the protests. At least eight were released under judicial
control a day later, the Media and Law Studies Association said, but
still face charges relating to the protests.
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University students shout slogans during a protest after Istanbul's
Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested and sent to prison, in Istanbul,
Turkey, Thursday, March 27, 2025. Board on the left reads in
Turkish: "Do not upset the graphic artist, he will write your name
with Comic Sans, Handan Inci." (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Turkey’s broadcasting authority, meanwhile, issued a 10-day airwave
ban on opposition-supporting channel Sozcu TV, the station said. The
penalty was issued for “inciting the public to hatred and hostility”
during broadcasts leading up to Imamoglu’s imprisonment.
Radio and Television Supreme Council member Ilhan Tasci said that
other channels backing the opposition were fined and handed program
suspensions over their protest coverage.
In response to the growing criticism, Fahrettin Altun, the
presidential communications director and a senior aide to Erdogan,
defended the bans and penalties on X.
“The attitude that the public authority should take against
broadcasts that aim to incite the public to hatred and hostility,
disrupt public order, and suppress individual rights and freedoms is
clear,” Altun said.
He added that “Media institutions and organizations must broadcast
responsibly, principled, ethically, and based on truth,” and warned
that broadcasts which “aim to discredit Turkey, encourage vandalism,
escalate violence, provide ground for terrorist organizations, and
undermine judicial institutions cannot be defended in any way.”
Altun said that media coverage that included “slanders and insults”
were defended “under the guise of press freedom” and added that that
press organizations must “abandon their attitudes that ignore the
serious slander, insult, and accusations constantly voiced against
our President and government in media organizations broadcasting in
axis close to their own ideology.”
In Ankara, a group of CHP lawmakers headed to protest at the
broadcasting authority’s offices said their party bus was “hijacked”
by police. “We wanted to bring our election bus … But the police of
this country take the key and give it to the (broadcasting council)
officer,” CHP member of parliament Ali Mahir Basarir said.
BBC reporter Mark Lowen was deported from Turkey following his
arrest Wednesday, the British news broadcaster said. He was detained
at his hotel and held for 17 hours before being issued with a notice
describing him as a “threat to public order," according to a BBC
statement Thursday.
The state-run Analdu Agency reported that 30 people were detained in
Istanbul for what it described as “creating panic” with
“provocative” social media posts calling others to street protests.
Mayor and more than 100 others pending trial
Imamoglu, the Istanbul mayor, was detained in a dawn raid on his
home on March 19 and later remanded to prison. He faces charges
stemming from two investigations into the opposition-controlled
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality -- a corruption case and one
alleging support for terrorism.
The mayor is the main challenger to Erdogan in an election currently
scheduled for 2028 but which is likely to take place earlier.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said Thursday that 106 people had been
arrested in both municipality investigations, with 51 in jail
pending trial, including Imamoglu. Those detained include municipal
officials and business figures accused of crimes such as bribery,
extortion and bid-rigging.
Many see the case against Imamoglu as politically motivated.
Protesters often say they have come out against Turkey's democratic
backsliding and increasing authoritarianism, as well as the
country's bleak economic outlook.
Imamoglu was confirmed as the CHP candidate for presidential
elections the same day he was sent to prison He has performed well
in recent polls against Erdogan, and his election as mayor of
Turkey’s largest city in 2019 was a major blow to the president.
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