President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 22-year rule, was jailed on 23 March pending trial on corruption charges. View on euronews

The arrest and recent imprisonment of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu sent shockwaves through Turkey, marking a decisive shift toward full autocracy. On March 19, police officers — acting on instructions from the ruling Justice and Development Party,

Erdoğan's arrest of the Istanbul mayor is aimed at quelling an increasingly vocal political opposition. But Ekrem İmamoğlu is also indispensable to the Turkish president as a symbol of religious toleration — and a foil to Erdoğan's Islamist ideal.

The journalist’s incarceration comes in the context of huge protests in Istanbul against the arrest of opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu.

Reporters Without Borders condemned the arrest and criticised what they call the erosion in press freedom in Turkey.

A new development has emerged in the ongoing protests sparked by the detention of İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. The first indictment has been prepared against those who participated in the İmamoğlu protests.

Turkey arrested the mayor of Istanbul on charges of corruption. Critics accuse Turkish officials of detaining the main rival of President Erdogan and a potential presidential candidate.

Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, was arrested early in the morning of Wednesday, 19 March, on two charges