Turkish prosecutors launched an investigation after lawmakers from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) hung a “Free İmamoğlu” banner on the Bosporus Bridge in İstanbul on Saturday, demanding the release of the city’s jailed mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, Turkish Minute reported.
The March 19 detention and subsequent arrest of İmamoğlu, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s top political rival and the CHP candidate for the next presidential election, triggered Turkey’s largest protests in decades.
CHP leader Özgür Özel posted photos on X showing six people, including party lawmakers, standing behind the metal railings of the 15 July Martyrs Bridge, previously known as the Bosporus Bridge, holding a red banner featuring a stylized image of İmamoğlu and the words “FREE İMAMOĞLU.”
“This is our response to the coup plotters who banned the posters and banners of our presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu: This is just the beginning. The struggle continues,” Özel said over the weekend, using the hashtag #İmamoğluHerYerde, which translates to “İmamoğlu is everywhere.”
The protest came shortly after the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office banned the use of İmamoğlu’s voice and image on public transportation, a move opposition figures condemned as politically motivated.
Bridge security quickly removed the banner, and prosecutors confirmed a criminal investigation had been initiated.
İmamoğlu, currently held in pretrial detention at Marmara Prison in Silivri on corruption charges widely criticized as politically driven, responded via a statement posted on his official international X account, managed by his team.
“What they don’t understand is that this fight is not about me, it is about our dignity, our rights and our freedoms,” the mayor said. “The more they try to erase my images in my beautiful city, the more they will pop up everywhere, even in the most unlikely places, like the Bosporus Bridge.”
The protest coincided with a Bosporus boat tour that included Özel and members of the Council of the Socialist International. During the tour, CHP lawmakers Suat Özçağdaş, Ali Gökçek, Mahmut Tanal, Nimet Özdemir, İlhami Özcan Aygun and Baran Yazgan staged their protest as the boat was passing under the bridge.
Meeting in İstanbul, the council on Saturday called for the mayor’s release. Leaders of socialist parties from various countries, including Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, held banners reading “Free İmamoğlu.”
Addressing the investigation on Sunday after participating in a public run in İstanbul’s Kadıköy district, Özel said: “Just wait and see where else we’ll hang the banners. Ekrem is everywhere.”
İmamoğlu’s arrest follows months of increasing judicial pressure on the opposition party, which has seen several of its mayors in İstanbul detained or removed from office on terrorism or corruption charges critics say are politically motivated.
