A large mass of people gathered around the streets, and the calm of the park shattered. Signs scattered across the large mass, each person blending into the next. Lights flashing red and blue light up the dusk, shedding light on the situation. Shouts and sirens pierce the silence, and at some point later in the night, gunshots and popping sounds as well.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been in power in Turkey since 2003. Starting off as the Prime Minister in 2014, he was voted as the current President of Turkey.
Ekrem Imamoglu has been the mayor of Istanbul since 2019, winning by a landslide during the reelection campaign in 2024. Ever since Imamoglu’s rise to power, he has been recognized as President Erdogan’s main political opponent. On March 15, 2025, he was arrested on charges including corruption and allegedly pro-terrorist ideas.
While the police are searching for incriminating evidence against Imamoglu, a handful of political party members deem his arrest a political move. Most of these people are in the Republicans People Party, or the CHP. The CHP follows Özgür Özel and are in support of Imamoglu to take the presidency for the next election if he is released and declared innocent by then.
The largest protest to happen thus far was on Saturday, March 29, 2025. Taking place at Maltepe Park, it was the largest political protest Turkey has seen in over a decade. Thousands of people participated, from older adults to young college students. Signs declaring Imamoglu innocent had been held over people’s heads, trying to win his freedom back.
A letter that Imamoglu had written in prison was shared at the protest, continuing to persuade the people present to fight for his freedom and to fight for their political rights that were being threatened.
Within the letter, a certain phrase struck the crowd so hard that they felt more united and hopeful than when they started the protests, “I have no fear, you are behind me and by my side. I have no fear because the nation is united. The nation is united against the oppressor.”
Nearing the end of the night, police officers were forced to use tear gas and fire shots at the protestors. This was caused by a violent turn that started with the civilians setting off and launching fireworks and homemade bomb devices in dangerous locations around the crowd.
However, these protests don’t create change without their losses. While thousands had made an appearance, nearly 1,900 civilians had been placed under arrest, with around 260 of them facing trial on Thursday, April 3, 2025. Another 468 were released under judicial control, and 662 other people have ongoing proceedings.
Some of these people are being charged with drug offenses, resisting arrest, not complying with a ban on protests and gatherings, and injuring the cops and citizens around them.
On April 4, 2025, the police began to raid houses of different protestors and people who supported Imamoglu. One such arrest they made was Imamoglu’s lawyer, Mehmet Pehlivan. As of now, there are still no formal charges against Pehlivan.
On top of the arrests, hundreds have been injured, including both the civilians and the police officers on duty to respond. Around 150 police officers had been reported as injured; while the amount of injured police officers has gone public, there is a lack of reports about the amount of civilian injuries.
During these protests, two important civilians stand above the rest: Pikachu and Berkay Gezgin.
In the crowds at the protests, many had worn masks, hats, and glasses in order to hide distinguishing features that could help authorities easily identify them. However, a crowd favorite was an unnamed person in a Pikachu inflatable who had managed to escape the police during a chase.
The original video was caught by Ismail Koçeroğlu, a photojournalist at Akdeniz University in Antalya. After this video was posted online, a couple more had circulated through the internet. While some of them have been AI generated, a handful of them are legitimate recordings.
Whether it was a fake or real recording, knowledge of the protests began to spread much more rapidly than before. The effect of the Pikachu video was to such an extent that soon, different protests began having Pikachu appearances.
Berkay Gezgin, a college student of 21, was arrested on the streets, just outside of the interior of Istanbul city hall. A squad of police were outside waiting for him before he could reach his motorcycle. He was not attending any protests at the time of the arrest, however, he had a large presence at most of the protests for multiple reasons.
Gezgin is the face of the youth support movement for Imamoglu. He took the position when he first met Imamoglu during his campaign trial in 2019. Ali Mahir Basarir, the deputy chair of the Republicans People Party had called him “the hope of millions”. This title has now been accepted by those protesting with him since his arrest.
Gezgin has been formally accused of “insulting the president” and “resisting the police”. However, his lawyer had pointed out that he was not at the demonstration during the time of the arrest.
On top of these different occurrences happening in Turkey, President Erdogan has also placed a lock down on people coming in and out of the country in order to prevent different news organizations from entering the country.
His main goal in doing this is to prevent the amount of information shared to people outside of Turkey that highlights how weak the government control is.
These protests in Turkey have caused a large wave of dissatisfaction throughout the country. People are being placed under arrest for unknown reasons. On top of that, thousands of people are getting hurt and are struggling to keep up with the new laws that President Erdogan keeps passing. However, they are continuing to push forward to see their victory.
