Lots of of hundreds of individuals have taken to the streets throughout the nation in response to the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the chief political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Imamoglu was arrested on March 19 on corruption and terrorism fees — days earlier than he was resulting from be chosen because the 2028 presidential nominee for the opposition Republican Individuals’s Get together (CHP). He and his supporters have denied the allegations and stated they had been politically motivated.
Whereas the arrest has drawn criticism from exterior Turkey, and the protests are the most important for the reason that 2013 Gezi Park demonstrations, it’s not clear that they are going to affect the U.S.-Turkey relationship. Three days earlier than Imamoglu’s arrest, President Donald Trump and Erdogan spoke on the cellphone about points starting from the warfare in Ukraine to Syria to counterterrorism, and a number of stories prompt Erdogan was in search of a late-April go to to the White Home.
