Politics
Turkey faces growing street protests over Istanbul mayor’s arrest, jailing – National TenX News
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that protests over the jailing of Istanbul’s mayor had become a “movement of violence” and that the main opposition party would be held accountable for injured police officers and damage to property.
The detention last Wednesday of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan’s main political rival, has triggered the biggest street protests in Turkey in more than a decade. On Sunday, a court jailed him, pending trial, on corruption charges that he denies.
Imamoglu’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and its supporters say the charges against him are politically motivated and undemocratic, which Erdogan’s government denies.
Despite a ban imposed on street gatherings in many cities, the mostly peaceful anti-government demonstrations continued for a sixth consecutive night on Monday, with hundreds of thousands taking part and CHP leader Ozgur Ozel repeating a call for the nationwide protests to continue.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdogan said the CHP should stop “provoking” citizens.
“As a nation, we followed with surprise the events that emerged after the main opposition leader’s call to take to the streets following an Istanbul-based corruption operation turned into a movement of violence,” the 71-year-old president said.
“The main opposition is responsible for our (injured) police officers, the broken windows of our shopkeepers, and the damaged public property. They will be held accountable for all this, politically in parliament and legally by the judiciary.”
Earlier, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya accused some protesters of “terrorizing” the streets and threatening national security. He said 1,133 people had been detained during five days of protests and that 123 police officers had been injured.
A CHP delegation met Istanbul’s governor to discuss the police crackdown on the protesters. The party’s Istanbul head Ozgur Celik said police intervention on Sunday night had been the most violent so far, with many people being hospitalized.
Addressing hundreds of thousands of people in front of the Istanbul Municipality headquarters in Sarachane again, CHP leader Ozel repeated a call to boycott media, brands, and stores he called pro-Erdogan, adding all charges against Imamoglu were baseless, unfounded and without evidence.
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“Whoever Tayyip Erdogan unjustly puts in jail, this square is defending them, for democracy and for Turkey,” said Ozel, who also called for continued protests as crowds waved flags and chanted slogans calling for the government to resign.
Ozel added his party would also appeal for Imamoglu to be released pending trial, and for his trial to be broadcast on the TRT state broadcaster. And he challenged Erdogan to a televised debate, while calling on protesters to maintain public order and avoid clashes.
Ahead of Ozel’s address, at the historic Galata Bridge in Istanbul, a sit-in protest blocked traffic on both sides of the bridge, while others gathered elsewhere in the city, in Ankara, and other cities.
Moments after Ozel finished his speech, police fired pellets and tear gas, and used water cannons to disperse demonstrators in Istanbul, while detaining several people. In Ankara, protesters stood in front of trucks carrying water canons and asked police to let them march in peace.
Protesters say mayor jailed ‘for no reason’
Imamoglu, 54, was jailed pending trial on Sunday, as the CHP held a primary election to name him presidential candidate. Some 15 million votes were cast in support of the mayor.
News of Imamoglu’s arrest covered the front pages of Turkish newspapers on Monday, with opposition media suggesting the mayor was arrested for being the most credible challenger to Erdogan.
The mayor’s supporters said the jailing of Imamoglu demonstrated a lack of justice in Turkey.
“I think there is an injustice committed against Imamoglu. They put the man in prison for no reason,” said Adem Bali, a 22-year-old construction worker.
Rights groups and European countries said Imamoglu’s arrest marked democratic backsliding and criticized police intervention. Germany said it made Turkey’s pursuit of EU membership, which it has targeted for decades, sounded “increasingly hollow.”
A meeting of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee was postponed on Monday after the EU side “concluded that current circumstances are not conducive” to holding the meeting, it said in a statement.
A CHP official said on Monday that the party would this week appeal a decision by the Istanbul University to annul Imamoglu’s diploma – required for eligibility in a presidential run – and added lawyers were working on appeals to the mayor’s arrest as well.
Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than two decades and faces no immediate tests at the ballot box, said the events of the past few days showed that the CHP was not fit to run local municipalities, let alone the nation.
He also sought to reassure investors who last week sold off Turkish assets following news of Imamoglu’s detention, sending stocks, bonds and the lira currency tumbling and prompting the central bank to intervene with foreign exchange sales and other stabilizing measures.
“Our main priority is protecting macrofinancial stability. The Treasury and finance ministry, central bank, all relevant institutions, with our support, are working day and night in full coordination, taking every necessary step,” Erdogan said.
The Istanbul bourse benchmark index .XU100pared back some losses on Monday after suffering a fall of 16.6% last week, its worst drop since the global financial crisis in October 2008.
Analysts expect a prolonged period of political turmoil and uncertainty.
“The protests mark the most significant and widespread public reaction in over a decade, making the trajectory of events difficult to predict,” said Wolfango Piccoli, co-president of Teneo consultancy.
“Once again, President Erdogan’s political agenda has inflicted serious damage on Turkey’s economic outlook.”
Politics
UK refuses to invite Israeli government officials to London arms fair over the war in Gaza – National TenX News
The U.K. has barred Israeli government officials from attending the country’s biggest arms fair over growing concern about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The decision does not cover representatives of Israeli defense contractors, who will be allowed to attend the DSEI UK exhibition, scheduled for Sept. 9-12 in London. The event was formerly known as Defense and Security Equipment International.
“The Israeli Government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong,” the British government said in a statement. “As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025.”
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The decision comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer in July announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to end the crisis in Gaza, agrees to a ceasefire with Hamas and commits to a long-term peace agreement. Britain previously barred sales to Israel of any arms that could be used in the nearly 23-month war in Gaza.
Israel’s Defense Ministry said the decision was based on politics and “serves extremists.”
“These restrictions amount to a deliberate and regrettable act of discrimination against Israel’s representatives,” the ministry said.
The Israeli ministry said it would withdraw from the exhibition and will not establish a national pavilion.
Pro-Palestinian and anti-war groups have announced plans to for protests during DSEI, which will take place at the Excel center in east London.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Politics
Israel soon will halt or slow aid to northern Gaza as military offensive grows – National TenX News
Israel will soon halt or slow humanitarian aid into parts of northern Gaza as it expands its military offensive against Hamas, an official said Saturday, a day after Gaza City was declared a combat zone.
The decision was likely to bring more condemnation of Israel’s government as frustration grows in the country and abroad over dire conditions for both Palestinians and remaining hostages in Gaza after nearly 23 months of war.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, told The Associated Press that Israel will stop airdrops over Gaza City in the coming days and reduce the number of aid trucks arriving in the north as it prepares to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people south.
Israel on Friday ended recently imposed daytime pauses in fighting to allow aid delivery, describing Gaza City as a Hamas stronghold and alleging that a tunnel network remains in use, despite previous large-scale raids. The United Nations and partners have said the pauses, airdrops and other measures fell far short of the 600 trucks of aid needed daily in Gaza.
A ‘massive population movement’ coming
AP video footage showed several large explosions across Gaza overnight. Israel’s military Saturday evening said it had struck a key Hamas member in the area of Gaza City, with no details.
In recent days, Israel’s military has increased strikes on the outskirts of Gaza City, where famine was recently documented and declared by global food security experts.
By Saturday there had been no airdrops for several days across Gaza, a break from almost daily ones. Israel’s army didn’t respond to a request for comment or say how it would provide aid to Palestinians during another major shift in Gaza’s population of over 2 million people.
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“Such an evacuation would trigger a massive population movement that no area in the Gaza Strip can absorb, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care,” Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement.
It’s impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City can be done in a safe and dignified way, she said.
Hundreds of residents have begun leaving Gaza City, piling their remaining possessions onto pickup trucks or donkey carts. Many have been forced to leave their homes more than once.
Killed while seeking food
Israeli gunfire killed four people trying to get aid in central Gaza, according to health officials at Al-Awda Hospital, were the bodies were taken.
An Israeli strike on a bakery in Gaza City’s Nasr neighborhood killed 12 people including six women and three children, the Shifa Hospital director told the AP, and a strike on the Rimal neighborhood killed seven.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said another 10 people died as a result of starvation and malnutrition over the past 24 hours, including three children. It said at least 332 Palestinians have died from malnutrition-related causes during the war, including 124 children.
At least 63,371 Palestinians have died in Gaza during the war, said the ministry, which does not say how many are fighters or civilians but says around half have been women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
“There is no food and even water is not available. When it is available, it is not safe to drink,” said Amer Zayed, as he waited for food from a charity kitchen in Deir al-Balah on Friday.
“The suffering gets worse when there are more displaced people,” he added.
Israelis rally again to demand a ceasefire deal
Israelis waited to hear the identity of the remains of a hostage that Israel on Friday said had been recovered in Gaza. It also said it recovered the remains of hostage Ilan Weiss.
Forty-eight hostages now remain in Gaza of the over 250 seized in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Israel had believed 20 are still alive.
Their loved ones fear the expanding military offensive will put them in even more danger, and they were rallying again Saturday to demand a ceasefire deal to bring everyone home.
“Netanyahu, if another living hostage comes back in a bag, it will not only be the hostages and their families who pay the price. You will bear responsibility for premeditated murder,” Zahiro Shahar Mor, nephew of hostage Avraham Munder, said in Tel Aviv.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
The Trump administration said Friday it was denying and revoking U.S. visas from members of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
That comes ahead of next month’s United Nations General Assembly, where Canada and several other countries have said they intend to officially recognize a Palestinian state.
The U.S. State Department cited the groups’ efforts to secure statehood recognition at the UN, along with their appeals to the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice to investigate alleged Israeli crimes in Gaza, as reasons for the decision by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Both steps materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks,” the department said in a statement.
“The Trump Administration has been clear: it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”
The statement did not name the officials being denied entry. It was not immediately clear if the list included Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was expected to travel to New York for the UN gathering.
The Palestinians’ ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters at the UN headquarters that they were checking exactly what the U.S. move means “and how it applies to any of our delegation, and we will respond accordingly.”
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Representatives assigned to the Palestinian Authority mission at the UN, led by Mansour, will be granted waivers so they can continue their New York-based operations, the U.S. statement said.
Mansour said Abbas still intends to lead the delegation to the high-level meetings and is expected to address the General Assembly — as he has done for many years — and to attend a meeting on the afternoon of Sept. 22 on a two-state solution co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia.
U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to New York and address the general assembly on Sept. 23, the White House said on Thursday.
Canada, Britain, Australia and France in recent weeks have announced or signalled their intention to recognize a Palestinian state during the meeting.
The countries have said their recognition is conditional on the Palestinian Authority — which has limited self-rule over parts of the occupied West Bank and has for years been positioning itself as a legitimate government alternative to Hamas in Gaza — undergoing reforms and new elections.
Abbas has signalled he will co-operate with the Western nations’ demands.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization is an internationally recognized coalition that represents Palestinian people in its occupied territories and abroad.
The Trump administration has staunchly backed Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. The U.S. has also refused to condemn expanded Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Canada and other allies have said undermine two-state solution efforts.
Rubio hosted Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar in Washington on Wednesday “to reaffirm our two nations’ close cooperation,” the U.S. secretary said in a post on X.
Saar, asked after the meeting what the plan was for a Palestinian state, said there would not be any.
The Israeli minister on Friday thanked Rubio for holding the PA and PLO “accountable for rewarding terrorism, incitement and efforts to use legal warfare against Israel” in a social media statement.
Officials with the Palestinian Authority reject that they’ve undermined peace prospects.
Under the 1947 UN “headquarters agreement,” the U.S. is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, terrorism and foreign policy reasons.
Hamas earlier this month said it had accepted a U.S.-backed proposal on a ceasefire in Gaza that would see the release of some hostages in exchange for talks with Israel that would end the conflict and see the return of all remaining hostages.
But Israel has said it will only accept the full return of all the hostages and has pressed ahead with a plan to occupy Gaza City, which international monitors like the UN have warned could worsen a famine already afflicting the Palestinian territory.
Rubio last week announced sanctions against multiple International Criminal Court judges and prosecutors involved in the court’s investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza and the issuing of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
—With files from Reuters
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
UK refuses to invite Israeli government officials to London arms fair over the war in Gaza – National TenX News
Israel soon will halt or slow aid to northern Gaza as military offensive grows – National TenX News
U.S. scraps Palestinian officials’ visas ahead of UN General Assembly – National TenX News
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