Turkiye won’t surrender to ‘street terror’, Erdogan warns protesters

ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday the Turkish authorities would not be cowed by “street terror” after days of unrest over the arrest of Istanbul´s powerful opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.

“Turkiye will not surrender to street terror,” Erdogan said as the leader of the main opposition CHP called for nationwide protests later on Friday over a move it has denounced as a “coup”. “Let me say it loud and clear: the street protests that the CHP leader has called for are a dead end,” Erdogan warned.

The 53-year-old mayor -- Erdogan´s main political rival -- was arrested on Wednesday, just days before he was to be named the CHP´s candidate for the 2028 presidential race. The move sparked two days of protests that began in Istanbul and quickly spread to at least 32 of Turkey´s 81 provinces, according to an AFP count.

CHP leader Ozgur Ozel has called a third nightly protest outside Istanbul City Hall at 1730 GMT, urging demonstrators to hit the streets across Turkey at the same time, despite the justice minister warning such calls were “unlawful and unacceptable”.

On Friday, Istanbul´s governor closed off Galata Bridge and Ataturk Bridge, which cross the Golden Horn estuary and are the main access routes to the historic peninsula where City Hall is located.

Thousands have defied a protest ban in Istanbul, gathering nightly outside City Hall. On Friday, the authorities extended the ban to the capital Ankara and the western coastal city of Izmir.