CHP to hold massive rally for İmamoğlu’s freedom

ANKARA

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) will hold a massive rally in Istanbul on March 29 with a demand for the freedom of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is behind bars over alleged corruption links.

The rally with the motto of “Freedom to İmamoğlu” will be held in the Maltepe district of Istanbul at noon, the party said in a statement. 

Özgür Çelik, the head of the CHP’s Istanbul office, said they are expecting millions of people from across the country to attend the rally and voice their support for İmamoğlu, who has been selected as the main opposition’s presidential candidate.

“I have just visited our mayor in prison,” Çelik said, conveying the message that İmamoğlu is calling on everyone to attend the rally for the protection of democracy and the future of Türkiye. “The Maltepe rally will not be an end but a beginning,” noted Çelik.

Silivri prison has turned into a “concentration camp” where hundreds of people are being jailed, Çelik said. “We face with a scene that does not suit the 21st-century world and Türkiye.”

Çelik recalled that İmamoğlu garnered the votes of around 15 million people in the CHP primaries and became formally the CHP’s candidate for the presidential polls. “We will strongly call for the release of our presidential candidate,” Çelik said.

The CHP will also launch a petition for the release of İmamoğlu, the Istanbul office head of the CHP also said.

In the meantime, the CHP applied to the Constitutional Court for the annulment of a law that grants the right of appointing trustees to business companies by the Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF).

“With this law in force, no one in Türkiye has property safety. A trustee can be appointed to any property, and it can be liquidated,” deputy parliamentary group leader of the CHP Gökhan Günaydın said on March 28.