2023-05-07 21:04:27
Istanbul A week before the elections in Turkey, several people were injured by stones thrown during an appearance by an opposition politician in the east of the country. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu from the main opposition party CHP said on Sunday evening that a group of people threw stones at him in the afternoon when he was giving a speech from the roof of his campaign bus. At least nine listeners were injured, he said in the video published on Twitter. The CHP distributed images showing people with head injuries.
Imamoglu accused the security forces of not doing anything on purpose. It’s a provocation. He stressed that the incident had nothing to do with Erzurum residents.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu wrote in a first reaction on Twitter: “Ekrem Imamoglu, who calls the people in Erzurum provocateurs, is himself a provocateur.” Imamoglu made his way back to Istanbul in the evening. Numerous followers awaited him there.
Imamoglu is a politician from the largest opposition party, the CHP, and supports presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu in the election campaign. If the opposition wins, Imamoglu will become vice president.
Kilicdaroglu condemned the attack on Twitter and called on his followers to remain calm. He accused the government of collaborating with the mafia and militants, saying: “Their goal is to scare people and keep them out of the polls.”
In the parliamentary and presidential elections on May 14, a neck-and-neck race is emerging between incumbent Erdogan and his challenger Kilicdaroglu.
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