Journalists detained and assaulted in a total of 1133 detainees since Wednesday. The television stations, under threat, are “ignoring the moment”-and Erdogan to enjoy it.
With gas, rubber bullets and armored water cannons, Turkish police continue to try to disperse large-scale protesters this Monday, at a time when Ecrem immamoglDespite being behind bars, it has already been made official by the main opposition party as a candidate for presidential elections in Türkiye of 2028.
Istanbul’s mayor, seen as Recep Tayyip’s biggest rival Erdoğan, was deprived of office and transferred to a prison this Sunday after being last Wednesday, accused of corruption, which triggered a wave of unprecedented protests in Turkey since the Taksim Square movement in 2013.
More than a thousand detainees, including 10 journalists
Since Wednesday, demonstrations were held in at least 55 of 81 provinces of the country. This Sunday, tens of thousands of people again focused on the Istanbul City Council, where several clashes were recorded between protesters and the police.
The Turkish Human Rights Defense Organization MLSA this Monday that 10 Turkish journalists were arrested in Istanbul and the city of Izmir. Also according to the association, more than 20 journalists have been physically assaulted by police in recent days.
Turkey’s Internal Affairs Minister, there Yerlikaya, told AFP this Monday that have already been detained 1,133 people since the beginning of the protests.
Suspended opposition accounts, “ignored” protests
If Turkish authorities prohibited all concentrations in the largest city in the country until Wednesday night, also some opposition accounts in the country suspended on social network x From Elon Musk, who when he bought the social network promised greater freedom of expression.
The platform has suspended since the beginning of the agitation several accounts linked to opposition activists in Turkey, especially those of groups linked to universities that share information on the protests and details of popular mobilization, Yusuf Can of the Wilson Center Middle Program told the newspaper.
Minister Ali Yerlikaya said authorities identified 326 accounts on social networks accused of inciting hatred, 72 of which operated from abroad. The legal basis for these actions lies in a Turkish law of 2022 regarding the media, which gives the government powers to suppress content.
This is not the first case where X limits access to online freedom of expression in Türkiye. During Erdoğan’s re -election campaign in 2023, the X restricted certain content “to ensure that Twitter remains available to the people of Türkiye,” according to the platform’s global government affairs team. According to X transparency reports, the platform fulfilled about 86% of Turkish government removal requests in the second half of 2024.
Turkish opposition has already begun to appeal to the boycott of television stations (mostly pro-government) who are “ignoring the moment” and fails to cover the demonstrations. According to, “the great channels of the country showed few images of the demonstrations across the country.” On Saturday, the Radiodifusion Surveillance Body stated in a publication in the X, that stations that would transmit live coverage of protests may see their licenses revoked by “biased” emissions.
Erdogan to enjoy the moment?
The current Turkish president, the analysts believe, is taking advantage of what seems to be a global tolerance for autocratic governance growing.
“There is a very special confluence of factors that facilitated the task in terms of not being condemned or punished,” says Monica Marks, professor of studies from the Middle East at New York University.
With Trump praising Erdoğan in recent interviews and maintaining stable and friendly relationships, there is less fear of a western reaction.
“I’m here. I have a white shirt dressed and they won’t be able to get it dirty. My wrist is strong and they won’t be able to cheer it. I won’t go back to a millimeter. I will win this war,” said Imamoglu, an unusual presidential candidate behind bars, in a message sent through his lawyers.
Tomás Guimarães, Zap //
