ISTANBUL (AP) – More than a dozen people have been arrested over violence against an opposition election rally in Turkey’s eastern city of Erzurum over the weekend, Turkey’s justice minister said Monday. country Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu of the opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP, was speaking atop a campaign bus on Sunday afternoon when a large group of about 200 protesters began throwing stones. Imamoglu was campaigning on behalf of CHP leader and presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the main opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, days before the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections. He claimed that police and pro-Erdogan officials in Erzurum allowed the attack to go ahead. “There are injured citizens here, and the police are on the lookout,” Imamoglu is heard saying in footage of the incident. “Governor of Erzurum, Mayor of Erzurum, I will file a criminal complaint against you.” The video later shows Imamoglu being led inside by his entourage and the bus driving off, with police later dispersing the group with water cannons. Seven people were injured in the incident, according to Erzurum Governor Okay Memis. Speaking to local news channel A Haber on Monday morning, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag announced that the investigation was continuing and that 13 people had been arrested so far.
Kilicdaroglu posted a video on social media after Sunday’s incident where he accused the mafia responsible of being a “militaristic coalition” that aims to “scare people from the polls”. Speaking on a television program later in the evening, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu claimed the incident was “theatre”. “They provoke these kinds of incidents, then claim ‘they did this to us, they did that to us’… They had advanced a speech that was intended to stir up, to provoke the crowd.” The contest is currently neck and neck. If Erdogan wins, it would be his third consecutive term as president. However, opinion polls give Kilicdaroglu a slight lead.
