President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses opposition politicians in Turkey of "disturbing the peace of our citizens with provocations" after a week of protests
Unrest began on Wednesday when Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu - an opponent of Erdogan - was detained on corruption charges
Imamoglu spent the night in jail on Sunday and says the charges are politically motivated, something Erdogan denies
Fresh crowds have now gathered in Istanbul for a sixth consecutive day of protests - watch live at the top of this page
Earlier, the Turkish government said 1,133 people had been arrested since the protests started
Turkey's presidential election is not scheduled until 2028 - Imamoglu was confirmed today as the Republican People's Party (CPH)'s candidate, after a symbolic primary vote
Crowds gather in Istanbul for sixth day of protests
We're now hearing from Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is delivering a televised statement after holding a cabinet meeting.
We're monitoring his speech and will update you if he addresses the protests across Turkey.
Image source, ReutersEkrem Imamoglu was relatively unknown until 2019, when he fought and won mayoral elections for the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) in Istanbul.
The result was a major shock to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AK), which went on to allege irregularities in the voting process.
A re-run was ordered. Imamoglu prevailed, securing 54% of the vote. The result was considered a major blow to Erdogan, who was then 16-years in power.
Imamoglu was sentenced to more than two-and-a-half years in prison in 2022, pending appeal, after calling those who annulled the local elections in 2019 "idiots".
A year later, Erdogan won the presidential election, securing another five years in power.
"The entire nation of 85 million won," Erdogan told crowds at the time, but his call for unity sounded hollow.
He ended with just over 52% of the vote - almost half the electorate in this deeply polarised country did not back his authoritarian vision of Turkey.
Imamoglu - at this point seen as Erdogan's most formidable rival - again stunned the AK when he retained control over Istanbul in the 2024 municipal elections, winning a second mandate in Turkey's largest city.
Many political commentators in Turkey referred to this as "Erdogan's worst defeat ever".
Ankara, Izmir, Bursa and Adana - the four biggest cities in Turkey after Istanbul - now also all have mayors hailing from the CHP – a testimony to Turkey's polarised political landscape.
Nihan Kalle and William Armstrong
Reporting from Istanbul, Turkey
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel has called for a boycott of media outlets that fail to report on mass protests against the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
"We are taking note of all TV channels not reporting on the protests of almost one million people in a square in Istanbul," Ozel told large crowds outside the Istanbul city hall in the Sarachane neighbourhood on 23 March.
"A boycott is coming to those who do not see this square," he said, external.
Large media groups in Turkey are typically owned by holding companies with business interests in multiple sectors. Mainstream and pro-government news channels have largely avoided broadcasting footage from the nightly protests at Sarachane, instead focusing on alleged "provocations" by protesters.
Amid Ozel's boycott call, lists of commercial companies seen as having close ties to the government spread widely on social media and on WhatsApp groups. Users also shared links to a website aimed at jointly identifying government-friendly companies and products to be avoided.
Meanwhile, footage online showed university students boycotting classes on university campuses across Turkey, in protest at Imamoglu’s arrest.
A 25-year-old protester who took to the streets last night says she plans to join the protests again tonight.
She tells the BBC’s World at One that an “amazing commune” had gathered yesterday, with medical students assisting protesters who had been kicked and pepper-sprayed by police.
“I’m a 25-year-old young woman, and we haven’t seen another government but Erdogan’s government,” she says.
“As a citizen and as a woman, I don’t have any rights and I’m actually so afraid of something happening to me.”
But the size of the protest movement has given her courage.
“Before I was afraid, but now I’m just angry,” she says. “I’m not afraid anymore because I’ve seen how crowded we are and what we can do.”
A former British ambassador to Turkey says it's "hard to disagree" with people who say Imamoglu’s arrest was politically motivated, but that change in the country “has to come from within”.
Sir Dominick Chilcott was the UK’s ambassador to Turkey from 2018 to 2022. He told the BBC’s World at One (WATO) programme that his time at the embassy in Ankara was “marked by a fairly steady growth in authoritarianism” on the part of President Erdogan.
The timing of Imamoglu’s arrest – so shortly before he was due to be named his party’s presidential candidate – has led many to suggest Erdogan had a political motivation.
“I’m afraid it’s very hard to disagree with people who see it as politically motivated and a move to stifle lawful political activities,” Chilcott told WATO.
But he is sceptical that major interventions from other countries could make a difference. “In my experience, the change has to come from within, from Turks themselves,” he says.
Image source, EPASupport for Istanbul's mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, has spread across the country - including to Turkey's capital Ankara, around 450km (280 miles) away.
Images from yesterday show protesters on the city's streets using flares and fireworks to get their point across.
Police were swiftly seen trying to control the crowds using water cannons, with Turkey's interior minister later accusing demonstrators of "attempting to disrupt public order, inciting street events and attacking our police".
Here are a selection of those photos:
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Image source, Getty ImagesThe BBC spoke to two young protesters on the streets of Istanbul yesterday, both of whom we have not named. They spoke out passionately against Imamoglu's arrest.
"We have a right to vote," said one young woman. "We have a right to choose whoever we want to rule us. But he [President Erdogan] is taking that right from us."
"We want democracy," a young man added. "We want the people to choose the elected. And we want the free will to choose who we want without them being imprisoned."
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Image source, ReutersThe protests taking place across Turkey were sparked by the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
Imamoglu was formally arrested on Sunday and charged with "establishing and managing a criminal organisation, taking bribes, extortion, unlawfully recording personal data and rigging a tender".
The European Commission has urged Turkey to "uphold democratic values" as a country that is both a member of the Council of Europe and a candidate for joining the EU.
"We want Turkey to remain anchored to Europe, but this requires a clear commitment to democratic norms and practices," commission spokesperson Guillaume Mercier told reporters, according to the AFP news agency.
The Greek government also commented on the political situation of its neighbour, saying it was "worrying", adding that undermining the rule of law and civil liberties "cannot be tolerated".
Officials from Ekrem Imamoglu's Republican People's Party (CHP) say they won't accept "fake democracy" in Turkey.
Speaking to the BBC World Service's Newsday, Baturay Goksular, a CHP official, says it is essential to keep fighting for democracy in the wake of Imamoglu's imprisonment.
"Those charges of corruption and terror charges are, as a whole, politically motivated and they just are afraid of Imamoglu and our party's election performance that will happen if a presidential election happens in Turkey," Goksular says.
He adds his party wants elections now, because he says "we know - and the protests show" that the Turkish public wants another "fate" than Erdogan's regime.
On Sunday, the CHP - Turkey's main opposition party - named Imamoglu as its candidate for the 2028 presidential election.
Mark Lowen
Reporting from Istanbul
Image source, Reuters"Whoever wins Istanbul, wins Turkey," President Erdogan once said.
He came to rue those words in 2019, when Ekrem Imamoglu won the mayorship of Turkey’s largest city.
When the president cried foul and ordered a re-run, Imamoglu won it again - even more decisively. Then, last year, Imamoglu's party gained control of virtually every major city.
Erdogan sensed his iron grip on the country faced its biggest threat in his 22 years in power.
Four days before Imamoglu was due to be selected as the opposition’s candidate in the next election, he was seized by police. His supporters said he was heading to prison - "but also to the presidency".
Imamoglu is from a secular-based party, but has managed to reach out to the pious side of the country too with his inclusive, unifying rhetoric. His arrest has galvanised Turks who feel oppressed by an increasingly authoritarian President Erdogan - and desperate over an economy that has fallen off a cliff.
As the government has jailed political opponents, critical journalists, mayors, even astronomers, it has felt like a boiling pot was waiting to explode. This might be that moment.
I interviewed Imamoglu in 2019, when I was the BBC's Turkey correspondent. "Everything comes to an end," he told me then, "parties, governments, life itself."
Would he be the next president of Turkey, I asked? "God knows", he said with a chuckle.
Cagil Kasapoglu
BBC World Service
Image source, ReutersIstanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu addresses his supporters in Istanbul in this photo from late January
Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu is one of the country's most popular politicians.
A leading figure in the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and mayor of the country's most populous city, the 54-year-old has long been seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most formidable rival.
He stunned Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK) when he retained control over Istanbul in last year's municipality elections, winning a second successive mandate in Turkey's largest city.
Many political commentators in Turkey have referred to this as "Erdogan's worst defeat ever".
Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), named Ekrem Imamoglu as its official candidate for the 2028 presidential election - despite his arrest.
The decision follows a symbolic vote on Sunday - in which the leader of the CHP says nearly 15 million people participated - but there are still big questions for Imamoglu.
For a start he is now in jail, having been formally arrested and charged with corruption. Imamoglu has denied the allegations and said they are politically motivated.
On top of that, Istanbul University earlier announced it was revoking Imamoglu's degree due to alleged irregularities.
If upheld, this would put his ability to run as president into doubt, since the Turkish constitution says presidents must have completed higher education to hold office. Imamoglu's lawyers say they will appeal the decision.
Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockCHP leader Ozgur Ozel was pictured voting during the presidential primaries for the only candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu, on Sunday
While demonstrations unfolding across Turkey have been largely peaceful, tensions appeared to rise last night, with reports of clashes between police and protesters in Istanbul.
Demonstrators were seen waving Turkish flags and chanting in front of a row of riot police, who, in turn, used cannons, tear gas and pepper spray to break up demonstrations - some of which is captured in the images below:
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Image source, EPAAt least 10 journalists have been detained in the cities of Istanbul and Izmir during dawn raids by Turkish police.
The news is being reported by Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), a non-profit organisation, and news agencies.
Meanwhile, the AFP news agency reports that among the 10 arrested is one of its photographers who was arrested in his home.
Image source, Getty ImagesWe can bring you a bit more now from the statement Turkey's Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya issued on social media.
Citing the Turkish constitution, he claims the protests over the last five days have "abused" the right to demonstrate, accusing protestors of "attempting to disrupt public order, inciting street events and attacking our police".
"Such actions are aimed at disrupting the peace and security of our people," he adds.
"We are clearly warning you from here: Let no one try to use our youth and our people as a shield for their own political ambitions."
The statement follows clashes between police and protestors in Istanbul yesterday evening. Prior to that, the demonstrations had been largely peaceful.
Turkey's interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, says a total of 1,133 have been detained since these protests in Turkey began last week.
"The terrorisation of our streets and the threat to the peace and security of our nation will absolutely not be tolerated," he says in a lengthy post.
Our colleagues in Turkey are working on bringing us a sense of what the country and its people are feeling today - which we'll then bring you. Stay tuned.
Image source, ReutersTens of thousands of protesters have taken part in demonstrations across Turkey, after the main rival to the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was detained.
Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, was one of more than 100 people, including other politicians, journalists and businessmen, detained last week. On Sunday, he was arrested and formally charged with corruption.
He has described the charges as being politically motivated - a claim Erdogan has denied.
Meanwhile, Imamoglu was confirmed over the weekend as the Republican People's Party's (CHP) presidential nominee for the country's next major election - scheduled for 2028.
In response to his arrest, last night saw a ramping up of the worst unrest the country has seen in more than a decade - with protesters fired upon with tear gas and rubber bullets. You can see footage of that in our last post.
Many have taken to the streets across Turkey in largely peaceful demonstrations since Imamoglu's detention. More than 700 arrests have been made since the protests began, according to Turkish authorities.