Erdogan condemns protests in Turkey as dozens of arrested

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned more and more protests in Turkey a few days after the arrest of the key opposition.

In a speech on Friday, Erdogan stated that his government did not “give up” vandalism or “street terror” before more planned protests. “We will not take a violation of public order.”

On Wednesday, police detained Istanbul’s mayor of Imomoglu, one of the more than 100 people conducted on charges of corruption and the help of terrorist groups.

Government critics gathered in cities from Turkey in protest when the crowd again gathered in Istanbul and Izmir on Friday, without giving a ban on demonstrations. On Thursday, 53 people were arrested on protests, the Interior Minister said.

Ozgur Osel – leader of the Imomoglu Party, secular Republican Party (CHP) – called for a third night protest outside the Istanbul Town Hall at 20:30 local time (17:30 GMT), saying that the president is afraid of the protest.

He also asked people elsewhere in Turkey to demonstrate wherever they are in the country.

“Break these barricades without damaging the police, take out on the street and squares,” he said.

Authorities tried to stifle street demonstrations with a four -day ban at all meetings in Istanbul, announced immediately after arrests on Wednesday.

Since then, they have expanded this order to Ankara and the Western Coastal City when the protests spread.

On the eve of Friday’s protests, Pro-Erdogan Istanbul, the governor of Pra-Erdogan, ordered the bridges of Galata and Ataturak, which both cross the mouth of the gold horn where the mayor’s office is.

Interior Minister Ali Jerlika similarly criticized the demonstrations, calling the opposition “irresponsible”.

Another 54 people were arrested for violating the law on “public incitement to hatred and hostility” by placing on the Internet, he said.

Tens of thousands gathered all over Turkey from arrests on Wednesday. There was an increase in contractions with the police aimed at scattering demonstrations that fired from tear gas and pepper.

Yerlikaya added that 16 police officers were injured at the demonstration.

The arrests of Imomoglu and others in recent months have followed serious nationwide repression, focusing on opposition politicians, journalists and figures in the entertainment industry.

Opposition figures say arrests are politically motivated. But the Ministry of Justice criticized those who associate Erdogan with arrests and insist on their judicial independence.

Imomoglu won the second term as Mayor Istanbul last year when his party CHP rolled local elections there and Ankara.

For the first time since Erdogan came to power, his party threatened across the country in the ballot box.

The election was also a personal blow for the president who grew up and became the mayor of Istanbul to rise to power.

Erdogan has held the post over the past 22 years, both the Prime Minister and the Turkish president. Due to the restrictions of the term, he cannot run for the post in 2028, unless he changed the Constitution.

The choice of presidential candidate CHP, in which 1.5 million members will vote, and the imamoglu is the only person working on Sunday.

The party also urged citizens to vote in a symbolic election, planning to place ballot boxes in areas across Turkey to show the support of the detained mayor.