Turkey opposition to fight Erdogan “until the end”: Leader

The Turkish opposition will fight "until the end" against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of the opposition CHP party told AFP in an interview on Wednesday, accusing the head of state of staging a "coup" with the arrest of Istanbul's opposition mayor.

"Erdogan carried out a coup against his own rival. He carried out a coup against the next president of Turkey, our presidential candidate. That is why our resistance and struggle against this will continue until the end," Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel told AFP in Istanbul.

He added the opposition must now "force" the president to hold early elections after the arrest last month of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was seen as Erdogan's main challenger in a poll.

The biggest opposition protests to grip Turkey since 2013 had dipped over the past 10 days with celebrations marking the end of Ramadan and universities not open.

So as not to lose the momentum, the CHP is now calling for night rallies in an Istanbul district every Wednesday.

"Then, every weekend, we will hold at least one rally in a city in Anatolia. We start the first one from Samsun," the Black Sea city where Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk launched the war of independence in 1919, Ozel said.

A party petition for the release of Imamoglu has gathered 7.2 million signatures, he said, adding that the aim is to get at least half of Turkey's 61.4 million voters to back the campaign.

"We will give Erdogan the biggest vote of no confidence in history," the party leader said, reaffirming the call for snap elections.

Some "7.2 million people have so far signed this petition to force him (Erdogan) to hold early elections," he added.

Imamoglu is the chief political rival of Erdogan and the CHP candidate for the 2028 presidential election.