The contrast of the images is striking. On the one hand, the ballet of white cars leading, Sunday, March 23, in the morning, the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, and fifty-one of his co-accused in Silivri prison, one of the largest penitentiary complexes in Europe, located on the outskirts of the city. On the other, the endless lines of voters surrounding the voting points organized all over the country by the Republican Persons of the People (CHP), the main training of the opposition, to designate Ekrem Imamoglu as a candidate for the next presidential election, scheduled for 2028.
Two scenes which, in their face-to-face, say the whirlwind in which Turkey has been immersed since the spectacular arrest on Wednesday of this rival and bane of the head of state, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and its main collaborators. Late at night, it was the images of the police suddenly intervening against the demonstrators who came to close a new crazy day.
According to a statement published by the party, “Out of 15 million votes, 13,211,000 expressed their solidarity” With Ekrem Imamoglu, the only candidate in the running. The interested party welcomed this news from the prison, specifying that she was returning him “Very happy”. “Tens of millions of people in this country, who suffer from the oppression of the government, a ruined economy, incompetence and a situation of lawlessness, rushed to the polls to tell Erdogan that this is enough”he wrote in a declaration transmitted by the town hall. And conclude: “The ballot boxes will come, the nation will give this government a slap which it will never forget. »»
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Source: Lemonde