CHP leader calls for release of protesters amid İmamoğlu rallies

ISTANBUL

Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel has demanded the release of young people arrested during protests against the detention of the main opposition party's Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.

“We greet with the warmest feelings those who support the ruling party and its allies who committed this cruelty. However, we cannot find anything to say to the junta, which is trying to stay in power through cruelty," Özel said outside Istanbul’s city hall on March 31.

İmamoğlu was selected as the CHP’s presidential candidate in a primary on March 23. He was arrested on the same day on charges of corruption and alleged links to terrorism.

He remains in custody pending trial. His arrest sparked protests across the country, with security forces detaining 268 individuals.

Özel’s remarks came after he visited both İmamoğlu and those arrested at Silivri Prison the previous day.

"We think they should be released on appeal and not kept inside until the first hearing," he said.

"We remind [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan of the shame of keeping in Silivri, not the murderers who darkened Türkiye's past, but the young people who say let Türkiye's future be bright."

Özel also condemned the alleged mistreatment and harsh conditions the young detainees faced in prison.

"We are following this matter... From now on, the young people will be treated as necessary within a state of law," he said.

"Those who run the state like a criminal organization, their apparatus and those who remain silent about this will be held accountable within a state of law."