The street protests and incidents that took place in the last 10 days of Ramadan are nothing more than an effort to disguise a robbery, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sunday, referring to the corruption charges against the main opposition’s Ekrem Imamoğlu.
"We are closely following the bribery, corruption and terror investigations in Istanbul. As the investigation progresses and deepens, it will surely be revealed to what extent the arms of a crime organization that wraps municipalities like an octopus go,” Erdoğan said in a video message to organizations of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
He underlined that the AK Party would not "fall into the trap and take a side in the intraparty quarrel within the main opposition.”
The arrest on March 19 of Istanbul's mayor, Imamoğlu, on corruption charges sparked significant protests nationwide.
After over a week of nighttime street protests, the Republican People's Party (CHP) on Saturday mobilised thousands of people for a giant rally in Istanbul, calling for the release of Imamoğlu.
Call for early elections
With Türkiye having entered several days of the public holiday marking the end of the Ramadan Muslim fasting month, the opposition has vowed to keep up the protest movement while switching tactics to more focused events.
CHP party leader Özgur Özel, a former pharmacist who has stepped in as the party's main public flagbearer, launched a campaign to gather signatures for a petition calling for Imamoğlu's release and early elections.
Özel had announced that protests would be held in a different one of Türkiye’s 81 provinces every weekend and a different district of Istanbul every Wednesday.
On Sunday, Özel later returned to Istanbul to visit Imamoğlu and dozens of other younger people detained in Silivri prison.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Sunday that 158 police officials were wounded in the protests. According to the minister, 1,879 people had been detained during the protests since March 19, with 260 of them remanded in custody pending trial.