section_path: Detention and arrest
section_name: Detention and arrest
paragraph_text: Detention and arrest
  
  On the morning of 19 March 2025, Turkish police surrounded İmamoğlu's residence in Istanbul. In a video, tweeted at approximately 7 a.m. local time, İmamoğlu said "We are facing great oppression, but I will not give up. I entrust myself to my nation." Shortly after İmamoğlu and around 100 other people, including his advisor Murat Ongun, were detained.
  
  Two Istanbul district mayors from the CHP, and several journalists and business figures, were detained as part of the same operation. These developments came on the morning of İmamoğlu becoming the CHP presidential candidate. The CHP condemned the detentions, describing them as a "coup attempt", and expressed their support for İmamoğlu. On March 23 twenty people, including the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Media Inc. and İmamoğlu's advisor Murat Ongun, Istanbul Planning Agency President Buğra Gökçe, İmamoğlu Construction General Manager Tuncay Yılmaz and İBB Kültür A.Ş. General Manager Murat Abbas, were arrested. Forty-eight people, including İmamoğlu, were arrested in the corruption investigation, three people were arrested in the terrorism investigation, and judicial control decisions were issued for forty-one people. On that day, İmamoğlu was the only candidate in the CHP's presidential primary election, held to choose the party's nominee for the upcoming presidential election. According to CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, İmamoğlu received over 14.85 million votes.
  
  The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office accused İmamoğlu of being the "leader of a criminal organization," alleging corruption, extortion, bribery, and money laundering tied to municipal contracts. Prosecutors also charged him with aiding the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), by forming an electoral alliance with the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) during the 2024 municipal elections. The government claimed this "city consensus" increased the PKK's influence in urban areas. İmamoğlu and his supporters rejected the charges as fabricated, asserting they were designed to eliminate him as a political threat to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office also announced that İmamoğlu's construction company had been seized as part of the investigation and detained its general manager.
  
  The Turkish government also imposed a four-day ban on public demonstrations in Istanbul, closed major roads, and restricted access to social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, according to internet watchdog NetBlocks. İmamoğlu was taken to the Vatan Security Department in Istanbul, where he remained in custody pending further legal proceedings.