The Turkish opposition is calling for an economic boycott to protest the detention of leading presidential candidate and Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, prompting a police crackdown on Thursday that led to 11 arrests.
Imamoglu was arrested on March 19, along with other members of his CHP party, on charges of corruption and aiding a terrorist organization. Imamoglu and CHP denounced the charges as political fabrications intended to take out the top rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — a “coup against the next president,” as CHP put it.
Huge protest marches in support of Imamoglu began shortly after his arrest, and continued despite orders from Erodgan to clear the streets. Both the Turkish opposition and international observers expressed concern about the police using excessive force against the demonstrators, and about Erdogan’s government taking steps to suppress free speech by arresting people for writing “provocative” social media posts.
On Saturday, CHP party leader Ozgur Ozel called for a boycott of pro-Erdogan media outlets and businesses, particularly media outlets that refused to air footage of the massive pro-Imamoglu demonstrations. A number of restaurants and cafes in the capital city of Ankara shut down in support of the boycott.
“We will not set foot in their restaurants. Our money will not be spent on TV stations that ignore the protests and label them as ‘violent and anti-Turkish movements,’ as Erdogan himself described them,” Ozel said.
A coffee chain called EspressoLab became ground zero for the boycott movement this week, as Erdogan supporters flooded social media with photos of themselves holding the chain’s coffee cups and other merchandise to show their support, while Imamoglu supporters condemned the brand as a symbol of Erdogan’s regime.
EspressoLab has been touted by Erdogan and his AKP party as a success story, although the company insists it is apolitical and does not understand why it has been targeted for boycotts.
The Turkish economy, not in great shape to begin with, has been slipping ever since Imamoglu was arrested. The Turkish lira fell to a historic low of 39 to the U.S. dollar, causing household prices to soar by over 75 percent in March. Turkish hedge funds and banks have suffered considerable losses from the collapse of the lira.
Erdogan’s government denounced the boycott as “sabotage” and predicted it was “doomed to fail.”
“We see this as a futile attempt by circles who consider themselves the masters of this country,” Trade Minister Omer Bolat said on Tuesday.
The head of Turkey’s broadcast regulator suggested news outlets that publicized calls for the boycott could be fined or shut down. At least one opposition media channel has been slapped with a ten-day suspension following Imamoglu’s arrest.
Prosecutors on Tuesday threatened to launch an investigation of the boycott movement for “hate speech” and “inciting public hostility.” They made good on that threat with Thursday’s arrests, which included a popular young actor named Cem Yigit Uzumoglu.
“We are free to protest, express our opinions and we will continue to be. And if there is an obstacle, we will continue to fight,” a defiant Uzumoglu said after he was released on Thursday under judicial controls and a travel ban.
Another actor, Aybuke Pusat, was fired from a TV series on the state-run TRT network after she expressed support for the Imamoglu boycott.
“It’s never acceptable for the people involved in TRT projects… to be part of a political campaign that is clearly initiated by a political party, that targets our country’s economy and seeks to design politics and polarize the nation,” TRT director Mehmet Zahid Sobaci said when announcing Pusat’s sacking on Wednesday.
On the other side of the increasingly heated debate, young Turks who support Imamoglu were infuriated when Abulkadir Ozkan, owner of concert organizer DBL Entertainment, denounced the protests and boycott as “treason.”
Ozkan shut down his social media accounts amid the fierce backlash, and after several foreign acts — including British rock band Muse, singer Robbie Williams, and Norwegian singer Ane Brun — canceled performances in Turkey that were booked through DBL, the company withdrew from all of its pending events.
On Friday, Erdogan condemned the boycott movement, dismissed it as ineffective, and warned “my nation does not forgive those who campaign against this country.”
“Right now, the process for a terror-free Turkey is proceeding as planned. There is no problem. Don’t be fooled by the steps the CHP has taken toward terror. We saw the results in Gezi,” he said.
Gezi Park was a 2013 protest that was brutally suppressed by Erdogan’s police, resulting in eight deaths and thousands of injuries, so this was a not-so-veiled threat by the authoritarian president that he is prepared to get much tougher with Imamoglu supporters.
Trade Minister Bolat said on Friday that his government wants to negotiate with the United States to lift the 10% additional tariff imposed by President Donald Trump this week. Although Bolat said Turkey’s tariff was “the best of the worst” compared to the much higher rates Trump imposed on other countries, the timing was difficult for Turkey given the economic damage from the Imamoglu affair.
