Sawt Falasteen - Turkey police detain Istanbul mayor, Erdogan's main rival

A popular and powerful figure within the CHP, Imamoglu is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival, and his detention came days before he was to be named the party's candidate for the 2028 presidential election.

Widely seen as the strongest candidate to challenge Erdogan, Imamoglu's career has been overshadowed by a string of what critics say are politically motivated legal cases.

The police raid occurred just hours after Istanbul University revoked his degree, amid claims it was falsely obtained.

The revocation is a high-stakes move as presidential candidates in Turkey need to have a higher education qualification.

Imamoglu "was detained and is now at police headquarters", said a press aide, who asked not to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the press and was unable to say why he had been detained.

"Hundreds of police officers have arrived at my door. I entrust myself to the people," the mayor said in a video posted on X.

A statement from the Istanbul public prosecutor's office cited charges including bribery and extortion, saying that Imamoglu was the leader of a "criminal organisation" and that 100 suspects had been rounded up.

The move appeared to be in connection with a probe into alleged "tender rigging" by Imamoglu that was opened in 2023.

But local media reports, including from state news agency Anadolu, said his detention was also linked to a separate probe for allegedly aiding the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), saying he was one of seven people who had been detained.

- Social media blocked, protests banned -

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel condemned what he called a "coup attempt against our next president".

"Making decisions on behalf of the people, using force to replace the will of the people or to obstruct it is a coup," Ozel said on X.

"We will not give in. In the end, the people's will shall prevail and Turkey will win," he added.

Shortly after the police raid, access to social media platforms was restricted, the Netblocks internet access monitor said.

"Live metrics show #Turkey has restricted access to multiple social media platforms including X, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok; the incident comes as Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and dozens of others are detained in events described by the opposition as a 'coup'," it said.

And the Istanbul governor's office immediately issued a ban on all protests until March 23 -- several demonstrations had been announced by the CHP late Tuesday over the revocation of Imamoglu's degree, which the mayor vowed to contest in court.

"We will fight this illegitimate decision in court," said the 53-year-old mayor, who was resoundingly re-elected as mayor of Turkey's largest city last year.

"We will build a system that will erase injustice from this country's memory."

Erdogan has repeatedly rejected claims that he himself never graduated from university and was not constitutionally able to hold the office of president.

In a statement on X, Istanbul University said the degrees of 28 people, including Imamoglu, would be "withdrawn and cancelled on the grounds of... obvious error". It did not elaborate further.

The mayor's office had previously published a copy of the business management diploma Imamoglu received from Istanbul University in 1995 after a journalist claimed he did not have one.

In recent years, Imamoglu has been named in multiple legal probes, with three new cases opened this year alone.

In 2022, he was handed two years and seven months in jail and banned from political activities for "insulting" election officials in Istanbul, in a sentence that he has appealed, the outcome of which is still pending.

E.Qaddoumi--SF-PST