By Daren Butler
ISTANBUL, March 18 (Reuters) - Thousands of Turks gathered in central Istanbul on Wednesday in support of jailed mayor Ekrem Imamoglu at an opposition rally, one year after President Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival was arrested on corruption charges.
Supporters waving red party banners and Turkish flags gathered at city hall for the rally by Imamoglu’s party, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which has been the target of an unprecedented judicial crackdown since late 2024.
"Rights, law, justice," the crowd chanted as Imamoglu's wife spoke at the rally.
The crackdown on the party is overshadowing Turkish politics ahead of elections expected by many to be held late next year. Imamoglu, the CHP's presidential candidate, is now on trial in a corruption case that could extinguish his ambition of succeeding Erdogan as president.
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel told Reuters he believed Erdogan wanted the CHP to withdraw Imamoglu's candidacy, but that it would not, saying that 15 million people had expressed their support for him as a candidate.
“Erdogan is using the courts to get rid of his rival. There is a price to pay for this,” Ozel said in an interview last week, forecasting that the CHP would defeat Erdogan at the ballot box.
Erdogan and the government deny political interference and says courts operate independently. They have not commented on the arrest anniversary.
Prosecutors accuse Imamoglu, 55, of leading a criminal organisation through tender-rigging and bribery, charges he denies. His pre-trial imprisonment has drawn sustained protests from opposition supporters and criticism from rights groups, who say the case exemplifies the erosion of judicial independence in NATO member Turkey.
Opinion polls show Imamoglu performing strongly against Erdogan in any presidential race, while polling also suggests a tight race between the secularist CHP and Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AKP in parliamentary elections set to be held at the same time.
Ozel said he expects pressure on the opposition to intensify ahead of elections, which he believes President Erdogan will seek in late 2027.
If elected, the CHP says it would restore rule-of-law governance, revive stalled EU accession talks, and pursue a more social-democratic economic model. Ozel framed the elections, scheduled for 2028, as a choice between democracy and autocracy.
"The next general elections are a referendum on whether democrats or autocrats will rule," he said. "If we win, a very strong democracy will be built."
(Reporting by Daren ButlerEditing by Alexandra Hudson)
