Emily Withers
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Ukraine says Russia broke pledge not to attack
This is a political earthquake here in Turkey. In the very early hours of the morning, the popular mayor, İkrem İmamoğlu, had his house raided by over 100 police officers. He then was taken into detention on corruption charges, as you said. And alongside his detention, over 100 other linked opposition members were arrested too. That included journalists and business leaders.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine says Russia broke pledge not to attack
There are small protests already breaking out here in the city and in cities across the country. But at the moment, they are quite small because you have to be brave to protest in Turkey these days. The police are very, very quick to break up protests. They arrest people. And this all comes against a backdrop of the authorities here trying to make it very hard for people to protest.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine says Russia broke pledge not to attack
They've closed key roads in Istanbul. They've closed down key metro stations. And they have said that they are banning all demonstrations and rallies for the next four days. But still, small groups of people are breaking through.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine says Russia broke pledge not to attack
It certainly does. I mean, Imamoglu is very charismatic and he's very, very popular. And in opinion polls, often Imamoglu is right alongside Erdogan. So he is a key challenger to Erdogan's presidency. And Erdogan is taking a gamble here because in 2019, when Ikram Imamoglu was elected to be the mayor here, The government called the first round of the elections rigged, and so they did a rerun.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine says Russia broke pledge not to attack
And in that rerun, Imamoglu gained even more popularity with even more votes. So it could be that his detention today makes him even more popular, turns him into something of a hero. Erdogan is also gambling on the fact that the international community isn't going to say much about this. Quietly, for months now, the government has been arresting
Global News Podcast
Ukraine says Russia broke pledge not to attack
hundreds of opposition figures from mayors across the country to journalists to business leaders. And Edwin may be gambling that because there hasn't been much international condemnation of that, that the world will not have much to say about the arrest of this very popular mayor either.
Global News Podcast
Trump officials accuse journalist of lying after Signal app leak published in full
There have been concerns that the government would nominate an appointee. The head of the opposition, along with city hall staff, have been sleeping in the building since Mr. Imamoglu's detention last Wednesday. With tonight being the holiest of Ramadan, it's expected that protests will be more muted after seven days of large anti-government demonstrations.
Global News Podcast
Trump officials accuse journalist of lying after Signal app leak published in full
The CHP are calling for a large rally in Istanbul on Saturday for Turks to show their support for Mr. Imamoglu and call for early elections.
Global News Podcast
Mayor of Istanbul dismisses charges against him
The protests definitely appear to be building and they also appear to be becoming more violent with the police cracking down quite hard. We were at a protest earlier outside the Istanbul building. municipality building, which is Imamoglu's office. His staff have been sleeping there since Wednesday because they don't want to leave the building empty in case the government tries to take it over.
Global News Podcast
Mayor of Istanbul dismisses charges against him
Before the protests had even really begun, the air was thick with tear gas. And then later into the evening, pepper spray was used. We also saw a very violent crackdown in in Ankara, the capital, and also in the coastal city of Izmir where police violently broke up demonstrations and fired water cannons at the crowd.
Global News Podcast
Mayor of Istanbul dismisses charges against him
Also in Istanbul, there is this court hearing that's happening now with Imamoglu and there were supporters of Imamoglu that gathered outside the court and they also clashed with police. One thing I noticed this evening was that when these protests first broke out on Wednesday, it was mostly students on the streets. But tonight, it really felt like a mix of ages.
Global News Podcast
Mayor of Istanbul dismisses charges against him
And one thing that was interesting that all the protesters said to us is that they weren't necessarily on the streets because they support the opposition party, the CHP, that Ememoli belongs to, but that they were on the streets because they were fighting for the country's democracy, for the future of Turkey.
Global News Podcast
Mayor of Istanbul dismisses charges against him
Yes, that's right. And I think we could really see the protests grow in the coming days, depending on what the decision this evening will be. Ekrem Emomolu is currently being questioned in a courthouse here in the city alongside 90 other opposition figures. The questioning before the judge is clearly going late into the night and everybody is waiting to hear what that decision will be.
Global News Podcast
Mayor of Istanbul dismisses charges against him
will be, will Imamoglu be charged or will he be released? The feeling on the street is that he will be charged. And that will, of course, ramp up anger because many people, not just the opposition, not just Human Rights Watch, but people on the streets too, say that this is a coup.
Global News Podcast
Mayor of Istanbul dismisses charges against him
President Erdogan wrote on social media this evening, yet again dismissing the protests and saying that justice and politics should not be decided on the streets. He dismissed people on the streets as engaging in street terrorism. And he has vowed that there will be a harsh crackdown on anyone going out to protest.
Global News Podcast
Mayor of Istanbul dismisses charges against him
I don't think Erdogan will be too concerned at the moment because we are talking tens of thousands. We're not talking hundreds of thousands. There have been hundreds of opposition mayors in other towns and cities that have been detained, business leaders, journalists. But Erdogan is likely gambling that there also won't be too much international pressure, depending on what happens.
Global News Podcast
Trump hosts UK's Keir Starmer at the White House
It could potentially be very significant. It could mark the end of a 40-year conflict that the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers Party, has waged with Turkey that has left tens of thousands of dead on both sides and has had major regional impacts. We've had a letter that was written inside jail from the leader of PKK, who's based on an island just off Istanbul.
Global News Podcast
Trump hosts UK's Keir Starmer at the White House
And in that letter, the militant leader Abdullah Ocalan said that the PKK should lay down their arms and they should dissolve. But there's so much that's unclear right now. You don't wage a 40-year insurgency against the Turkish state without there being any major concessions. And it's just not clear at the moment what those concessions are.
Global News Podcast
Trump hosts UK's Keir Starmer at the White House
It's also not clear whether the fighters who are now based in northeastern Syria, they're based in the northern Iraqi mountains, are they going to listen to their jailed leader who has been in prison since 1999? Not really ever heard from. Meanwhile, Turkey has continued to fight the PKK in the northern Iraqi mountains, in Syria and within the country.
Global News Podcast
Trump hosts UK's Keir Starmer at the White House
There are two reasons for why President Erdogan might want this to happen now. Firstly, if we look over the border into Syria, running the northeast is the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are a Kurdish-led group, which Turkey says has PKK fighters amongst them. And they do not want this group to be on their borders. The complicated thing here is the SDF forces are also American allies.
Global News Podcast
Trump hosts UK's Keir Starmer at the White House
They armed and trained them to watch over Syria. Islamic State and their battle against Islamic State in that region. There's also a domestic reason here too. President Tayyip Erdogan is no longer able to run for office after 2028. And it's not clear whether he might want to extend his power. He can do that through two ways. He can rewrite the constitution, or he can call early elections.
Global News Podcast
Trump hosts UK's Keir Starmer at the White House
In order to do that, he's going to need the support from Parliament. And he doesn't have that without the Kurdish parties. So it could be that this deal has been struck in order to secure the support from Kurdish parties so he can remain in office beyond 2028. And he's going to need the Kurdish vote as well, potentially, if he wants to win.
Global News Podcast
Trump signs executive order to close Department of Education
It definitely feels very tense in Istanbul and we're seeing pressure build on the streets now for a second night, not only in Istanbul, but also in the capital, Ankara, with demonstrators going out onto the streets and protesting the detention of the very popular mayor here, Ekrem Imamoglu.
Global News Podcast
Trump signs executive order to close Department of Education
There have also been calls already from the opposition party, the CHP, which Imamoglu belongs to, calling for major rallies tomorrow in 14 cities and 21 provinces. And this is despite a government ban on protests. We are seeing the protests, some of them being violently broken up by the police. We expect that to continue in the coming days.
Global News Podcast
Trump signs executive order to close Department of Education
We've heard from Erdogan for the first time on all of this. And the language that he used was a lot softer compared to when he usually wants to attack the opposition. So he said tonight that the opposition were just seeking to cover up internal mistakes. And this is much softer language compared to what we heard from Ekrem Imamoglu earlier, the detained mayor who's in custody.
Global News Podcast
Trump signs executive order to close Department of Education
He took to social media and he appeared to share a message aimed directly at President Erdogan. He accused him of corruption and he called on members of the ruling AK party and the judiciary to oppose any injustice.
Global News Podcast
Trump signs executive order to close Department of Education
And despite the fact that Imamoglu at this point is very likely to be charged and imprisoned, the CHP have said that they are going to go ahead with their internal ballot, which will see around 1.5 million members voting for Imamoglu to be their next presidential candidate in any future elections. They've also called for something else, which really could cause a lot of problems on the streets.
Global News Podcast
Trump signs executive order to close Department of Education
They have said that they're going to place ballot boxes all over towns and cities across Turkey and they're calling on ordinary members of the public to go out and place a symbolic vote in support of Ekrem İmamoğlu. And we also heard from the Turkish opposition leader today, Özge Ozel, and he's made an international plea asking for help.
Global News Podcast
Trump signs executive order to close Department of Education
He asked Europe, what are you going to do about this injustice? And he said that the EU should not sacrifice Turkey's democracy.