{"id":34516,"date":"2026-03-06T19:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/34516\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T19:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:20:09","slug":"turkish-prosecutors-indict-11-university-students-over-protests-following-imamoglus-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/34516\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish prosecutors indict 11 university students over protests following \u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019s detention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/stockholmcf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Imamoglu-protests.jpeg\" data-caption=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"412\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- alt=\"\" title=\"I\u0307mamog\u0306lu protests\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Imamoglu-protests-696x412.jpeg\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"412\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Imamoglu-protests-696x412.jpeg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"I\u0307mamog\u0306lu protests\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Turkish prosecutors have indicted 11 university students for taking part in protests following the detention of \u0130stanbul Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu in March 2025, the TR24 news website <a href=\"https:\/\/t24.com.tr\/gundem\/ankarada-19-mart-eylemlerine-katilan-11-odtu-ogrencisine-dava,1304537\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The students, all from Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, face charges of \u201cparticipating in unlawful meetings and marches\u201d and \u201crefusing to disperse despite warnings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office alleged that the students organized unauthorized demonstrations at several locations in Ankara, including on the METU campus, in violation of a protest ban imposed by the provincial governor.<\/p>\n<p>The protests were part of a nationwide wave of <a href=\"https:\/\/stockholmcf.org\/protesters-fill-streets-in-turkey-defying-crackdown\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">demonstrations<\/a> triggered by \u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019s detention on March 19, 2025. Tensions reportedly arose on the campus when students refused police orders to disperse, leading to several detentions.<\/p>\n<p>\u0130mamo\u011flu, widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan\u2019s strongest political rival, was <a href=\"https:\/\/stockholmcf.org\/turkish-court-arrests-istanbul-mayor-in-graft-probe-amid-protests\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">arrested<\/a> in March 2025 on corruption charges that critics say are politically motivated and aimed at sidelining him ahead of the 2028 general election.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 2,000 people, including teenagers, students, lawyers, journalists, union leaders and human rights defenders, were detained nationwide during the large-scale protests that erupted after \u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019s detention. Approximately 300 of them were arrested.<\/p>\n<p>The first hearing in the case is scheduled for June 9.<\/p>\n<p>The METU Alumni Association criticized the prosecution in a statement, saying that \u201cthe exercise of constitutional rights can not be prevented through pressure, detentions, lawsuits or other legal measures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Turkey\u2019s Law on Meetings and Demonstrations regulates the right to protest but has long been criticized for undermining it. While the Turkish Constitution guarantees peaceful assembly, the law gives governors and police sweeping authority to restrict or disperse gatherings.<\/p>\n<p>Human rights groups say the law\u2019s vague wording allows the government to criminalize otherwise lawful protests. It has increasingly been used against opposition politicians, students, journalists and activists. During the protests, authorities invoked the law to justify mass arrests and tight restrictions on rallies in Istanbul and other cities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turkish prosecutors have indicted 11 university students for taking part in protests following the detention of \u0130stanbul Mayor&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[312,20121,1181,20122,20123,429,20124,131,132,155],"class_list":{"0":"post-34516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-stockholm","8":"tag-human-rights","9":"tag-imamoglu-protests","10":"tag-istanbul-mayor-ekrem-imamoglu","11":"tag-metu-alumni-association","12":"tag-metu-protests","13":"tag-oppression","14":"tag-right-to-peaceful-assembly","15":"tag-stockholm","16":"tag-sweden","17":"tag-turkey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116183854352048352","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}