2025–2026 Turkish protests

The 2025–2026 Turkish protests are an ongoing series of demonstrations across Turkey, Northern Cyprus and the Turkish diaspora that began on 19 March 2025 following the detention and arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and more than 100 other opposition members, officials businessmen and protesters by Turkish authorities. İmamoğlu, at that tine member of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) who had twice defeated allies of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Istanbul mayoral elections, faced charges of corruption and alleged links to the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK); Istanbul University separately revoked his degree, a move the could disqualify him from future presidential runs. Opposition figures characterized the arrests as politicly motivated attempt to remove Erdogan's leading rival ahead of the next presidential election, while the government maintained that the judiciary acted independently. the demonstrators, supported by the CHP and a range of other parties and civil society groups have been described as Turkey's largest since the 2013 Gezi Park protests.

Turkish authorities responded with mass detention, bans on public gatherings, curfew style travel restrictions into and out of Istanbul, and deployment of riot police, tear gas, and water cannons against demonstrators in multiple cities. Thousands of people have been detained since the protests began, and dozens of journalists, Turkish and foreign, have faced arrest, prosecution, and expulsion, while covering the unrest, drawing condemnation from press freedom organizations. social media platforms including X faced Turkish court orders to block hundreds of accounts linked to protest organizing, which X initially resisted before complying, prompting accusations of a double standard from free speech advocates.

The unrest coincided with a sharp economic shock; the Turkish lira fell to record lows against the US dollar in the days following İmamoğlu's arrest, the Istanbul Stock Exchange's benchmark index dropped sharply and the Turkish Central Bank sold tens of billions of dollars in reserves to stabilize the currency, prompting revised inflation forecast. The protests draw international attention, with Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and foreign governments expressing concerns over democratic backsliding in Turkey, though the European Union and other Western partners have been reluctant to take concrete action given Turkey's strategic importance.

Despite his continued imprisonment, İmamoğlu was mentioned by CHP as its presidential candidate in March 2025. Large scale rallies, organized by CHP leaders Özgür Özel, have continued on regular weekly basis in Istanbul and rotating cities across Turkey into 2026, alongside continuing arrests, prosecutions of detained protestors and journalists, and sporadic unrest tied to related events such as May Day, Pride marches, and the anniversary of the Gezi Park protests.