Paris: Rally against Erdogan

Solidarity with the Turkish people in Paris.

Demonstrators gathered this Saturday, March 29, at Place de la République in Paris, in support of Istanbul’s opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, accused of corruption and terrorism and arrested as a leading opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

« After dismissing dozens of Kurdish mayors and imprisoning thousands of elected officials, journalists, and opposition figures since 2015, the Erdogan regime is now targeting Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, by placing him in police custody alongside more than a hundred of his colleagues, elected officials, and members of his party, the CHP (Republican People’s Party).

For several months, while holding parallel talks with Abdullah Öcalan, the Kurdish leader imprisoned on the island of İmrali who made a historic declaration for peace on February 27, 2025, the Erdogan regime has intensified its all-out repression against journalists and opposition officials (CHP and Kurds), intensifying the climate of fear.

The opposition is organizing in Alsace and Moselle, home to the largest Turkish community after the Paris region. In Strasbourg, demonstrations and rallies are taking place daily, while in Metz and Nancy, associations are planning a large rally in support of Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, imprisoned since March 23, 2025.

Today, everything was in place for a new coup d’état with the arrest of his main opponent in the presidential election. Mr. Imamoglu was to be officially designated this Sunday during an internal CHP primary as his party’s sole candidate for the 2028 presidential election. The day before his arrest, his university degree, which he obtained 35 years ago and required for his candidacy, was revoked.

With these arrests and a crackdown that intensifies daily, the objective of the Islamo-nationalist regime is clear: to maintain power by preparing for the 2028 elections now, or even by bringing them forward.

In Nancy, a demonstration in support of the call by Turkish Alevi associations in Lorraine brought together around a hundred people on Saturday, March 22, 2025. The following day, the headquarters of the Nancy Alevi Cultural Association welcomed nearly 900 people who came to show their support with a symbolic vote in favor of Ekrem İmamoğlu.

Faced with this escalation of authoritarianism, we:

Strongly condemn this political decision and demand the immediate release of all political prisoners in Turkey.
We urge the French government and European leaders to call on their Turkish counterparts to address the abuses committed by the Erdogan regime.
We reaffirm our support and unwavering vigilance for all those resisting repression in Turkey: women, Alevis, Kurds, journalists, trade unionists, LGBTQIA+ people, academics, teachers, and all political opponents.

In Turkey, Turks turned out in droves to show their support for the imprisoned mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoğlu. Some came by boat, crossing the Bosphorus to reach the Asian side of the city. Despite threats and arbitrary arrests, the demonstrators are continuing their protests. For several days, thousands of Turks have been marching in the streets, protesting the forced arrest of Ekrem Imamoğlu, a member of the Social Democratic Party and opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Imamoğlu was about to be nominated as a candidate in the upcoming presidential election when he was arrested.

The crowd gathered in the Maltepe district, on the Asian side of Istanbul, at the call of the CHP, the opposition party of the megalopolis’ mayor, Ekrem Imamoğlu, who was taken into custody on March 19.

The wave of protests in the heart of the Turkish metropolis brings together all generations.

According to the latest official figures, more than 2,000 people have been arrested in one week, 260 of whom have been imprisoned. Among them are several Turkish journalists, some of whom have been released. Several foreign reporters have also been targeted. Reporters Without Borders calls for an end to the criminalization of journalists and the obstruction of the right to information in a supposedly democratic country.