People flash mobile phone lights during a protest against the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as part of a corruption investigation, in Istanbul, Turkey, March 25, 2025. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
ANKARA (Reuters) - Istanbul's opposition-run municipal council on Wednesday elected an interim mayor to run the city, after mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was jailed pending trial over graft charges that he and his supporters deny and call politicised.
The detention last week of Imamoglu, the biggest political rival of President Tayyip Erdogan, triggered the largest anti-government demonstrations in Turkey in over a decade and led to mass arrests, as hundreds of thousands heeded opposition calls and took to the streets in mostly peaceful protests.
