Istanbul's Imamoglu defiant after government suspends him as mayor

ISTANBUL:

Istanbul's embattled Ekrem Imamoglu vowed to fight on after being jailed in a graft probe and suspended as mayor Sunday in developments that have sparked Turkey's worst street unrest in more than a decade.

Just four days after his arrest in a pre-dawn raid by hundreds of police, the powerful and popular opposition mayor was stripped of his title and became an inmate at Silivri prison on the megacity's western outskirts.

"This is not a judicial procedure, it's a (political) execution without trial," he wrote on X through his lawyers while being taken to jail after a court formalised his arrest.

His arrest has sparked a massive wave of protest that began in Istanbul but has since spread to at least 55 of Turkey's 81 provinces, according to an AFP count.

Demonstrators were gearing up for another mass show of defiance at 1730 GMT on Sunday night, with the Istanbul authorities moving to close off access roads and bridges leading to City Hall in the historic peninsular.

Although the court decided against formalising his arrest in a separate "terror" probe, the interior ministry said he had been "suspended from office".

The court decisions came as the main opposition CHP party held a long-planned primary to elect Imamoglu as its candidate in the 2028 presidential election.

"Be sure to vote today for the future of Turkey, then raise your voices by meeting in the squares of Istanbul and other provinces," Imamoglu wrote ahead of a fifth night of mass protest.

Observers said it was the looming primary that triggered the move against Imamoglu, widely seen as the only politician capable of challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Earlier he insisted he would fight on.

"We will erase this black stain on our democracy. I will not be bowed."

Throughout the day, voters flocked to ballot boxes in 81 cities after the CHP opened up the poll beyond its 1.7 million party members to anyone who wanted to participate.