Stones thrown at opponents of Erdogan

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A week before the elections in Turkey, opposition politician Ekrem Imamoglu (51) was attacked during the election campaign and forced to withdraw his appearance. The office of Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, has released images of the attack in the eastern Turkish city of Erzurum, where the politician gave a campaign speech on Sunday.

Imamoglu is a member of the Republican People’s Party and supports Kemal Kilicdaroglu (74), who is running against the incumbent head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan (69).

Angry protesters threw stones at Imamoglu’s campaign bus, forcing him to stop performing and leave the city.

Footage posted online showed police using water cannons to disperse protesters and prevent them from chasing the bus. According to Turkish media reports, seven people were slightly injured.

Imamoglu spoke of a provocation and demanded an explanation from the local authorities. The province is controlled by Erdogan’s conservative Islamist party, the AKP.

Extremely tense situation

Erdogan himself also crossed the border in a campaign speech. He described his opponent as a “drunkard”. The people will never leave the country for a “drunkard and drunkard”. He also accused Imamoglu of collaborating with “terrorists”.

The incident highlighted the tense situation in Turkey a week ahead of the first round of presidential elections. The popular Imamoglu has a chance to become vice president if the opposition wins the election. The polls point to a close race between Kilicdaroglu and Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey for 20 years. (zis/AFP)

Source: Blick