Turkey releases lawyer of jailed Istanbul mayor

Turkish authorities release a lawyer for jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, after detaining him overnight, an attorney for the lawyer says.

Imamoglu, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), leads Erdogan in some polls. He was jailed pending trial over allegations of graft on Sunday, provoking the largest anti-government protests in more than a decade, which have led to mass arrests nationwide.

Mehmet Pehlivan, a lawyer who defended Imamoglu in the latest investigation, was detained “for fabricated reasons,” CHP lawmaker Turan Taskin Ozer says in a post on X, without giving details.

Pehlivan’s lawyer, Yigit Gokcehan Kocoglu, says on X that his client was detained “not for doing anything, but simply for being our Mayor Ekrem’s lawyer and for doing his advocacy job.” He says the detention was meant as a “warning.”

Kocoglu says Pehlivan had been asked during his questioning about a money transfer that Pehlivan had not carried out, as well as a donation to a charity. Pehlivan was barred from travelling abroad upon his release, his lawyer said, adding they would appeal.

The interior and justice ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Imamoglu, who was replaced by an interim mayor on Wednesday, had demanded the immediate release of his lawyer.

“As if the coup on democracy wasn’t enough, they can’t stand the victims of this coup defending themselves,” Imamoglu says on X.