• Tensions may be imposed after four days of protest.
• Ankara said the court was independent and warned the opposition.
• Hundreds of people were detained after the latest national protests.
  

State media and other broadcasters say the Turkish court sentenced Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu to trial on Sunday, a move that could have sparked the country’s biggest protests against President Tayyip Erdogan’s government in more than a decade.

The decision to send Erdogan’s main political rival to prison was after the decision to criticize his actions as politicized and non-democratic, after the decision to send Erdogan’s main political rival to prison was after his actions politically criticized.

The court said Imamoglu, 54, and at least 20 people were sentenced to jail, as part of a corruption investigation, two that were opened to him last week.

Court decides to release the mayor under judicial control measures to separate terrorist-related charges, broadcaster Halk TV and Ahab Reports say there is a possibility of preventing the government from appointing trustees to manage the country’s largest city.

Imamoglu, who led Erdogan in some polls, denied the allegations, calling them “unthinkable allegations and defamation.”

Also on Sunday, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), opposing the main opposition of the Erdogan ruling coalition, while others voted to choose Imamoglu as a candidate for the next presidential election of the Center for Health Protection.

The general election is not planned until 2028. But if Erdogan, who led Turkiye for 22 years, will be held again, Congress will need to support earlier elections, as the president has reached the limit before that date.

Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas, who is also a Centre for Health Protection, told reporters on Sunday that imprisoning Imamoglu is a shame to the judicial system.

The government denied that the investigation was politically motivated and said the court was independent. It warned against protests, especially given the nationwide ban on street gatherings, which lasted four days on Saturday.

On Saturday, thousands of people gathered outside the Istanbul city government and the main court building, and at two locations, hundreds of police officers stationed at both sites using tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters as the crowd threw firecrackers and other objects at them.

Although most of the demonstrations were peaceful, protesters also clashed with the western coastal Izmir province and the capital Ankara, where police opened fire on the crowd for the third night in a row.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said earlier Sunday that Turkish authorities detained 323 people during the investigation.