A man holding a photo of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, during a protest against his imprisonment, in Istanbul, on April 9, 2025. (Credit: Dilara Senkaya/Reuters.)
Turkish police made 44 new arrests Friday in the corruption case that led to the March jailing of Istanbul’s opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, state news agency Anadolu reported.
Among those detained are the former mayor's private secretary, Kadriye Kasapoglu, and the chairmen of the boards of directors of two companies linked to the Istanbul municipality. Twenty other municipal employees, including the press relations officer, had already been arrested on Tuesday as part of the same investigation. Thirteen of them have been detained, according to the Turkish press.
The arrest on March 19 of Imamoglu, who denies the charges against him, triggered an unprecedented wave of protest in Turkey since 2013.
The former mayor of Istanbul, considered the most formidable opponent to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been incarcerated since March 23, the day of his inauguration by his party, the CHP (Social Democrat), as a candidate for the next presidential election scheduled for 2028.
The cancellation of his university degree in March, denounced by the Turkish opposition, currently prevents him from running in a presidential election.