More than 1,100 detained in Turkish protests, says interior minister
Turkey’s interior minister said 1,133 people had been detained since protests began on 19 March, AFP reports.
There have been large-scale demonstrations in cities across Turkey since last Wednesday over the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the main political rival of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Key events
Isar Aerospace has scrubbed its attempt to launch its first test flight of its orbital launch vehicle from Norway, AP reports.
Unfavourable winds this afternoon meant that the Spectrum rocket could not be launched from the island of Andøya in northern Norway, the German aerospace company said.
The company said it could also conduct the test flight later in the week. Another date has not yet been set.
Several opposition figures in Turkey have had their X accounts suspended amid civil unrest in the country, Politico is reporting.
Elon Musk’s social media platform has suspended the activity of “university-associated activist accounts, basically sharing protest information, locations for students to go,” Yusuf Can, coordinator and analyst at the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, told Politico.
He added that many of these accounts are “grassroots activists” with their followings in the low tens of thousands.
Politico reports:
The suspensions come after extensive demonstrations were sparked by the arrest earlier this week of Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. İmamoğlu was arrested just hours before he was nominated to be the presidential candidate for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
The opposition protests have spread despite the government banning gatherings for four days.
Much of the opposition activity has centered around universities, and many of those connected to the demonstrations are now finding their X accounts suspended, observers report.
Portugal’s foreign minister Paulo Rangel and Chinese counterpart Wang Yi will hold talks in Beijing on Tuesday, as EU member states fret over the prospect of a trade war with both Washington and Beijing.
This week’s visit would be the first to China by a high-level Portuguese government official in over five years.
The United States is the main destination for Portuguese exports outside the EU, while Portugal is the only country in western Europe still signed on to Beijing’s flagship overseas infrastructure plan, the belt and road initiative.
The European commissioner for trade, Maros Sefcovic, is heading to Washington to meet the US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday, a Commission spokesperson said, Reuters reports.
Sefcovic will also meet with US trade representative Jamieson Greer. The spokesperson declined to provide more details about the discussion.
Donald Trump has threatened the EU – the US’ third biggest trading partner – with 25% tariffs. The EU said last week it may delay implementing its threatened response to US steel and aluminium tariffs.
The imprisonment of Istanbul’s opposition mayor has come at a time when Turkey finds itself at the centre of geopolitical turmoil that observers say has freed president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to target his most dangerous opponent, Ekrem İmamoğlu, AP reports.
Analysts say a convergence of international factors gave Erdogan the opportunity to try to neutralise the main threat to him in elections due to be held in 2028, but which could come sooner. “There are a really special confluence of factors that made this seemingly easy for him to pull off in terms of not suffering international condemnation or punishment for it,” said Monica Marks, professor of Middle East studies at New York University Abu Dhabi.
Berk Esen, a political scientist at Istanbul’s Sabanci University, said the CHP’s decision to confirm İmamoğlu as its presidential candidate for 2028 was key to his arrest. “Erdogan was hopeful that he could slow down, if not completely hinder, Imamoglu’s candidacy prospects,” he said. “But when the CHP decided to hold (presidential) primaries, it became clear that İmamoğlu would come out as the candidate for the CHP so Erdogan wanted to move against him right away.”
“Erdogan is playing by the autocrat’s playbook, targeting the only institutions able to check his power – judiciaries, universities, and then popular leaders,” said Maya Tudor, professor at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government. “It is important to remember that day-to-day democracy is not about elections, which happen infrequently and under the glare of international media. It is also about the right of opposition politicians to organise and be heard. When politicians like İmamoğlu cannot disagree with Erdogan without being jailed through trumped up charges, a vital pillar of democratic society dies.”
Germany has called the jailing of Istanbul mayor and Turkish opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu “totally unacceptable” and said it was following the developments with “great concern”.
“The arrest and suspension of the mayor of Istanbul is totally unacceptable. This must be clarified very quickly and transparently,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesman Steffen Hebestreit told a press conference.
Reuters provides further quotes from Greenland’s outgoing prime minister Mute Egede, who has criticised a visit to the self-governing Danish territory by US second lady Usha Vance planned for later this week.
Egede called the delegation’s visit, which runs from Thursday to Saturday, a “provocation” and said his caretaker government would not meet with it.
“Until recently, we could trust the Americans, who were our allies and friends, and with whom we enjoyed working closely,” Egede told local newspaper Sermitsiaq. “But that time is over.”
The Greenlandic government is currently in a caretaker phase following a March 11 parliamentary election won by the Democrats. Jens-Frederik Nielsen, leader of the Democrats, called for political unity and criticised the timing of the visit during coalition talks with municipal elections due next week. “We must not be forced into a power game that we ourselves have not chosen to be a part of,” Nielsen said.
Brian Hughes, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said the visit aims to “build on partnerships that respects Greenland’s self-determination and advances economic cooperation”.
The Danish national police force said it has sent extra personnel and sniffer dogs to Greenland as the island steps up security measures ahead of a planned visit this week by second lady Usha Vance, AP reports.
Spokesperson René Gyldensten said the extra officers were part of regular steps taken during visits by dignitaries to Greenland, a self-governing, mineral-rich territory of American ally Denmark.
Vance’s visit comes at a time when president Donald Trump has suggested the United States should take control of Greenland. Denmark, a NATO ally, insisted the island wasn’t for sale.
More than 1,100 detained in Turkish protests, says interior minister
Turkey’s interior minister said 1,133 people had been detained since protests began on 19 March, AFP reports.
There have been large-scale demonstrations in cities across Turkey since last Wednesday over the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the main political rival of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Families gathered to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Germanwings plane crash that killed 150 people in March 2015.
Investigators said the plane was deliberately downed by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz. Memorials took place at the German high school that lost many students to the disaster and also in Le Vernet, near the crash site in the French Alps.
At least ten journalists were detained in Istanbul and Izmir following large-scale protests in Turkey over the arrest of Istanbul’s embattled mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the main political rival of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In a post on X, Turkish NGO Media and Law Studies Association said its legal unit was assisting the journalists. It said more than 20 journalists had been physically assaulted by police in the last four days of demonstrations.
Greenland PM denounces ‘foreign interference’ ahead of US visit
Greenland’s prime minister Mute Egede accused Washington of interfering in its political affairs with the visit of an American delegation later this week to the Danish territory coveted by US president Donald Trump, AFP reports.
Usha Vance, the wife of US Vice President JD Vance, will visit Greenland this week with her son and a US delegation, which Egede said would include US national security adviser Mike Waltz.
“It should be said clearly that our integrity and democracy must be respected without foreign interference,” Egede said, adding that the delegation’s visit, from Thursday to Saturday, “cannot be seen as just a private visit”.
Since returning to power in January, Trump has insisted he wants the United States to take over Greenland and even refused to rule out the use of force to achieve the aim.
Egede said Washington had been told there would be “no talks” until a new Greenlandic government was in place after 11 March general elections that left him heading a caretaker government.
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, leader of the centre-right Democrats that won the election and likely future Greenlandic prime minister, has previously criticised Trump’s moves on Greenland as “inappropriate”.
A private European aerospace company is set to make the first test flight of its orbital launch vehicle from Norway later today, AP reports.
The launch window for its Spectrum rocket from the island of Andøya in northern Norway is 12.30pm to 3.30pm local time, said German start-up, Isar Aerospace. The launch is subject to weather, safety and range infrastructure, and the company said it also could conduct the test flight later in the week.
The 28-meter- (91-foot-) Spectrum is a two-stage launch vehicle designed for small and medium-sized satellites. The company largely ruled out the possibility of the rocket reaching orbit on its first complete flight, saying it would consider a 30-second flight a success.
Isar Aerospace is separate from the European Space Agency, or ESA, which is funded by its 23 members states. ESA has been launching rockets and satellites into orbit for years, but mainly from French Guiana — an overseas department of France in South America — and from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
China said it hopes a visit later this week by the French foreign minister would see the countries deepen cooperation in a world facing “turbulence and transformation”, AFP reports.
France and China have sought to strengthen ties in recent years, but Paris has also pressed Beijing on its ties with Moscow, which have strengthened since the invasion of Ukraine.
French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot is set to visit the Chinese capital Beijing and economic powerhouse Shanghai on Thursday and Friday, his first visit since becoming the country’s top diplomat last year.
“The current international situation is increasingly turbulent and complex, with a notable rise in instability and uncertainty,” China’s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said, adding that Barrot will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
Turkish journalists held after covering protests
Turkish authorities have detained nine journalists who covered overnight protests against the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the Journalists Union of Turkey said, Reuters reports.
A Turkish court on Sunday jailed İmamoğlu, president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival, pending trial on corruption charges in a move that triggered the country’s biggest protests in more than a decade.
Despite bans on street gatherings in many cities, mostly peaceful anti-government demonstrations were held for a fifth night in a row last night. It was not immediately clear why the journalists were detained.
A post on the union’s Facebook page listed the names of the journalists it said had been detained in dawn raids in Istanbul and Izmir.
Istanbul’s mayor to be presidential candidate, says CHP
Istanbul’s embattled mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu was officially nominated as a presidential candidate by the opposition CHP party for the 2028 elections, a party spokesman told AFP on Monday.
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) – the main opposition party and the second largest party in parliament – held a primary election on Sunday, at which the only candidate was İmamoğlu, the main political rival of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
İmamoğlu’s arrest and detention on corruption charges has sparked huge protests in Turkey.
Opening summary: huge Turkish demonstrations over mayor’s arrest
Good morning and welcome to our blog covering developments in Europe amid escalating protests in Turkey triggered by the imprisonment of the mayor of Istanbul and top rival to president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
On Sunday, a court formally arrested mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, sending him to pre-trial detention on the day he received his party’s nomination to run for president. His initial arrest and detention on Wednesday sparked the largest wave of street demonstrations in Turkey in more than a decade and deepened concerns over democracy and the rule of law in the country.
Last night, tens of thousands of demonstrators who massed near Istanbul’s city hall for a fifth straight evening, angry at the decision to officially arrest İmamoğlu, faced police who pepper-sprayed crowds and fired teargas. In İzmir, video showed police attempting to disperse protests using armoured water cannon trucks.
The mayor’s imprisonment is widely regarded as a political move to remove a major challenger to Erdoğan from the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028. Government officials strongly reject the accusations and insist that Turkey’s courts operate independently.
İmamoğlu was jailed on suspicion of running a criminal organisation, accepting bribes, extortion, illegally recording personal data and bid-rigging — accusations he has denied. A request for him to be imprisoned on terror-related charges was rejected although he still faces prosecution.
In other developments:
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Usha Vance, the wife of US vice-president JD Vance, will travel to Greenland on Thursday as president Donald Trump clings to the idea of a US annexation of the strategic, semi-autonomous Danish territory. Vance will visit Greenland on Thursday with a US delegation to tour historical sites, learn about the territory’s heritage and attend the national dogsled race, the White House said in a statement.
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Hundreds of victims’ families are commemorating the 10th anniversary of the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 in the French Alps, which killed all 150 people on board. Investigators said the plane was deliberately downed by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz. Memorials are planned Monday for 10.41am — the moment of the crash — at the German high school that lost so many students and also in Le Vernet, near the crash site in the mountains.
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French actor Gérard Depardieu will face charges in a Paris court of sexually assaulting two women during the filming of a movie in 2021. Depardieu is accused of groping a set dresser and an assistant director during production of the film Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters). The actor denies the charges.
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Press freedom in Serbia is facing a “dangerous turning point” after mounting pressure on independent outlets from ministers and state-backed media, a group of senior editors has warned. The editors, who are all from publications within the independent United Media group, said their reporters faced “constant harassment, physical attacks and smear campaigns” after their reporting in the country, which has been gripped by protests against its autocratic president, Aleksandar Vučić.
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Tuberculosis (TB) infections among children in European rose 10% in 2023, indicating ongoing transmission and the need for immediate public health measures to control the spread, the World Health Organization said. “The worrying rise in children with TB serves as a reminder that progress against this preventable and curable disease remains fragile,” said Hans Henri Kluge, WHO’s Regional Director for Europe.
