A court formally arrested the mayor of Istanbul and key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday and ordered him jailed pending the outcome of a trial on corruption charges.Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was detained following a raid on his residence earlier this week, sparking the largest wave of street demonstrations in Turkiye.

His imprisonment is regarded as a political move to remove a major contender from the next presidential race, scheduled for 2028. Government officials reject accusations that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that Turkiye’s courts operate independently.