A young man wearing a cape with Istanbul Mayor's illustrated face. Screenshot of video reports by BBC News Turkish and Guardian News
Istanbul's popular mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, wasarrested on alleged corruption and terror links on March 19. In the four days since, citizens have taken to the streets and the main squares across several provinces to protest, defying the four-day protest and demonstration ban imposed by the authorities on March 19 in an attempt to quell any resistance.
Despite heavy police presence and roadblocks in Turkey's large cities, thousands have joined the protests. “Rights, law, and justice” is just one of many chants heard throughout the marches, referencing the country's decline in all three under the leadership of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
As such, the ongoing protests are not just about the arrested mayor but about Turkey's decline in rights and freedoms and the current economic crisis. Citizens are demanding officials address the regular basic rights infringements, high cost of living amid a shattered economy, rising unemployment, and anti-democratic decisions and policies implemented on the government level.
In the meantime, police have been using tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons to try to disperse the crowds.
🟡 HAPPENING NOW: Scenes show the massive scale of ongoing protests across Turkey, now entering their third consecutive day.
Demonstrations continue to spread nationwide, as police respond with tear gas, water cannons, and pepper spray in multiple cities. pic.twitter.com/0tpG8tpJvG
— red. (@redstreamnet) March 21, 2025
Student-led protests
From Izmir to Ankara and Istanbul, students from scores of universities across the country, big and small, have been dismantling police barricades since they were erected on March 19. This video of students walking toward the barricades after chanting, “Charge! Charge the barricade!” captured by the local media and shared widely, was one of the highlights:
“Taking to the streets is not just about the arrest of Imamoglu. It is an explosion of anger. Rights, law, and justice. We are on the streets for our basic rights,” said one protester in an interview with Fayn Studio.
University students in Turkey continue to protest Imamoglu’s detention for a second day in Ankara pic.twitter.com/ZzBpDENkMS
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) March 20, 2025
Most of the students grew up under the leadership of Erdoğan and his party and know nothing but his rule. Meanwhile, the AKP has strengthened censorship and control on campuses and has tried to crack down on student protests over the years. The most recent example was the trustee rector appointment to one of the country's leading institutions, Boğaziçi University, in 2021. Four years later, academics and students continue to protest on campus, challenging decisions made by the rectorate.
As such, it is not surprising to hear that in interviews with the local media, students are talking about “the years-long injustice” and “lawlessness” under the AKP.
Beyond large cities
The protests have been reported not just in major cities like Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, but elsewhere — including in provinces where the AKP has historically won in local elections or is considered popular.
Farmers in Konya, a conservative province in central Turkey, join the protests against the Erdoğan regime. By no means is this uprising limited to university students or big cities. https://t.co/yyw65huqOE
— Timur Kuran (@timurkuran) March 21, 2025
AKP strongholds are now joining the anti-regime protests in Turkey. Here’s Amasya, east-central Turkey. In the 2023 presidential election, Erdoğan got 55% of the vote here. https://t.co/DDFhdiIZ4H
— Timur Kuran (@timurkuran) March 20, 2025
In a statement issued by 44 publishing houses based in Turkey, its signatories said:
We defend democracy, freedom, and the right of citizens to vote and be elected! The cancellation of the diplomacy of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, his detention together with his colleagues on the same night, and the simultaneous ban on demonstrations and meetings in Istanbul are all disregard for the will of citizens; an attack on the right to vote and be elected is a concrete example of the murder of law and democracy. As the publishing houses undersigned, we declare that we defend democracy, freedom, and the right of citizens to vote and be elected, and we condemn the attack on the will of the people in the person of İmamoğlu.
Measures to silence
In addition to banning protests and erecting barricades throughout Istanbul, authorities also throttled internet bandwidth on March 19 in order to deter dissent and criticism. While the bandwidth throttling was lifted after 42 hours, other measures continue to signal that the authorities are determined to quash any resistance. Scores of accounts on X have also reportedly been blocked.
Many are likening the ongoing protests in Turkey to the 2013 GeziProtest, which started as a protest to protect Istanbul's last remaining green spaces but expanded to a movement about the country's deteriorating rights and freedoms. The difference is that while Gezi Protests were largely uncoordinated, this time, the country's largest opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), is calling on the citizens to take to the streets in masse despite the official ban on any public action or demonstration.
Turkey’s opposition leader Ozgür Ozel called on people last night to take to the streets in protest against Imamoğlu’s detention.
This is the first time in 12 years that the opposition has made such a call to protest the government.pic.twitter.com/XsaSnX50av
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) March 21, 2025
In a speech delivered to the demonstrators who gathered outside the Istanbul Mayorship headquarters on Saraçhane Square for a third consecutive day, on March 21, the leader of the CHP, Özgür Özel, pressed demonstrators to continue the protests even if the police blocked all roads.
If they block every street, step outside your home, join whoever you can, and head to the designated square. The people will stand by their elected officials. Today is the moment to decide whether there will be elections in the future or not.
Academic Timur Kuran wrote on X that among other differences between the Gezi movement and the protests today is the economy. Unlike 2013, when “the economy was booming,” today “inflation is crushing people on fixed incomes.”
According to the latest numbers, more than 300 citizens have been detained across several provinces since March 19.
On March 23, the CHP is scheduled to hold an election in which Imamoğlu was expected to be chosen as the party's presidential candidate for the 2028 presidential election. Normally only open for party members, the election has now been extended to all eligible citizens who have been encouraged to vote to demonstrate their solidarity with İmamoğlu.
Regardless of the outcome of the in-party election, country experts are in agreement — the arrest of the mayor signals the country's descent into a “full-blown autocracy.”