Global News Podcast - Turkey: thousands protest against Istanbul mayor arrest

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

Turkish police arrest the mayor of Istanbul and presidential hopeful, Ekrem İmamoğlu. Thousands of people have come out in protest. Also: President Trump says his phone call with President Zelensky was very positive.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. I'm Zing Zing. And I'm Simon Jack. And together we host Good Bad Billionaire. The podcast exploring the lives of some of the world's richest people. In the new season, we're setting our sights on some big names. Yep. LeBron James and Martha Stewart, to name just a few. And as always, Simon and I are trying to decide whether we think they're good,

bad or just another billionaire. That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. from the BBC World Service. I'm Rachel Wright and in the early hours of Thursday, the 20th of March, these are our main stories. Thousands of demonstrators in Istanbul protest against the detention of the city's popular mayor. Donald Trump says his phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky was very positive. Ecuador's president tells the BBC he wants military help from

abroad to fight criminal drugs gangs. Also in this podcast the drones that could help Sherpas on Mount Everest and the Olympic Games is perhaps the greatest event on the planet. It's critically important that the next president comes in and addresses some of the major challenges that are faced. So who will get the most powerful job in world sport? We start in Turkey. Students outside Istanbul University were pepper sprayed by riot police as they protested against the detention of one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's biggest political rivals, the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamolu.

In a rare display of public anger, crowds chanted anti-government slogans while the main opposition called his arrest a coup against our next president. Mr. Imamoglu was detained with about 100 politicians, journalists and businessmen. At a news conference, Turkey's Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç defended the arrests. I would like to underscore that the Republic of Turkey is a state governed by the rule of law. Everyone is equal before the law. No individual or group is granted special privileges. I asked Emre Temel from BBC Turkish Service what were the accusations against Mr. Imamoglu.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office described Ekrem Imamoglu as a suspected criminal organization leader. He was accused of corruption in tender processes. Prosecutors also accused Mr. Imamoglu of aiding the outlaw of Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, as well. And Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said a total of 106 individuals have been detained into two investigations into terrorism and corruption. He added that investigations will remain confidential. Mr. Imamoglu denies all the charges. His wife, Dilek Imamoglu,

dismissed the accusations as ridiculous and manufactured. And the opposition says Mr. Umemoglu is being targeted to stop him running against President Erdogan in the next presidential elections. How much of a threat is he to Mr. Erdogan? Ekrem Umemoglu is seen as the strongest rival to the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a future election. As President Erdogan himself, Mr. Umemoglu seemed ready to use Istanbul mayorship as the launchpad for the ultimate prize presidency. He's a very popular politician, won the mayoral race twice in 2019 and was resoundingly reelected

last year. And Mr. Imamoğlu is expected to be named as main opposition Republican People Party's presidential candidate in a primary vote on Sunday. However, yesterday his university diploma was revoked. This move was largely seen by the opposition as an aim to eliminate him from the Turkish politics because a college degree is a constitutional requirement for a candidacy in Turkey. And Mr. Imamoglu was preparing to appeal this decision but what happened this morning left him in an uncharted territory. If he will be arrested the government may

appoint a trustee to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality to replace Imamoglu and as it stands now Ekrem Imamoglu will not be able to run in Turkey's next presidential elections. Tell me what's the latest on the protests? How big are they? And is this a real show of defiance? The main opposition, the Republican People's Party, held a big protest outside the Istanbul municipality. Thousands of people joined it. Mr. Imamoğlu's wife, Dilek Imamoğlu, spoke.

She said 16 million Istanbulites will have been detained. And the main opposition party's leader, Özgür Özel, described this morning's detention as a coup attempt and he urged opposition groups to unite. One of the opposition party's good party called for the boycotting the next presidential elections. However, it seems that main opposition party doesn't agree with this. Emre Temel from BBC Turkish. To the war in Ukraine next.

Donald Trump promised he'd stop the war and he says he's still trying. On Tuesday it was President Putin's turn to receive the American president's attention and on Wednesday it was President Zelensky who received a phone call from the White House. Caroline Levitt is the White House press secretary. The leaders agreed Ukraine and America will continue working together to bring about a real end to the war and that lasting peace under President Trump's leadership can be achieved.

I would just like to emphasize we have never been this close to peace, and it's only because of President Trump that we are here. I think a couple of years ago, as you all reported on the war, it was incomprehensible to have a partial ceasefire in this conflict. And today that is true because of the leadership of this president. Marion Moscheery asked our North America editor Sarah Smith about the phone call between Presidents Trump and Zelensky. We know that they spoke about quite a lot of substantial issues, firstly with Donald Trump briefing President Zelensky. We know that they spoke about quite a lot of substantial issues. Firstly, with Donald Trump briefing President Zalensky on the call that he had with Vladimir Putin yesterday

and on the limited truce that they agreed on, where there will be no more targeting of energy sites by either side. But they also discussed what's going on in the Russian region, of course, where Ukrainian soldiers are fighting. And President Zalensky requested more air defense missiles and more equipment to help with their defense and President Trump said he would talk to European partners about that so it seems to have been a fairly detailed conversation and one in which President Zelensky took great care to thank Donald Trump for his involvement to say that Ukraine really is committed to peace which they think can be achieved this year and that that's thanks

to Donald Trump's leadership that's President Zelensky going out of his way to be incredibly polite and diplomatic to Donald Trump in the way he likes, to avoid a row the like of which we saw, of course, three weeks ago in the Oval Office, where they had that absolutely explosive spat that resulted in Vladimir Zelensky being thrown out of the White House afterwards. So, Sarah, what's your assessment of where we are now in terms of Mr Trump's involvement in this peace brokering and after these phone calls with these two men, where does the US stand and where does it move forward from here? Well, all of the official things we've heard from the White House, whether they're in Donald Trump's social media posts or in official readouts as they call them, a description of the phone calls, have been very measured

and very diplomatic. And of course, if Donald Trump thought he had scored a big success, we would be seeing more of his usual kind of loud boasts of how terrifically well things are going. There isn't even anything written in all capital letters in any of his social media posts. And that's because he frankly doesn't have a great deal to boast about after this week's diplomacy. He got President Putin to agree to an incredibly limited truce, not the full ceasefire for 30 days that Ukraine had already agreed to. Vladimir Putin is still insisting that there are various demands and guarantees he's looking for before he'll go towards a full ceasefire, let alone start talking about peace settlements. So talks are going to begin again between the various American, Ukrainian and Russian teams in the Middle East this week, but there is an awful lot of work to do combing through the fine detail of these things,

and Donald Trump will be finding that enormously frustrating. He insisted this was going to be a swift and straightforward process. At the beginning of this week, White House officials were talking about how a peace deal was within reach, enormously frustrating. He insisted this was going to be a swift and straightforward process. At the beginning of this week White House officials were talking about how a peace deal was within reach and that we've never been closer, but now it looks as though it's getting bogged down. And frankly, what are the usual details of this kind of shuttle diplomacy? But details Donald Trump thought he was going to be able to skip over, but he clearly hasn't been able to.

Sarah Smith in Washington. Almost 70,000 South Africans have expressed interest in resettling to the United States, following an executive order by President Donald Trump offering citizenship to farmers from the country. The South African Chamber of Commerce in the USA says it's handed over the details of those interested to the US Embassy in Pretoria. From Johannesburg, here's our Africa correspondent, Mayeni James. Now this is the first time that we're getting an indication of the level of interest in South Africa to Mr Trump's offer to resettle South African farmers to the US.

Now for some context, on the 7th of February, President Trump issued an executive order accusing the South African government of discriminating against white Afrikaner farmers. These are descendants of Dutch and French settlers here in South Africa. This is something that President Siriova-Rama-Posa has repeatedly denied. Nonetheless, a month later,

President Trump extended his invitation to any South African farmer who felt discriminated against and also offered them citizenship. Following this, the South African Chamber of Commerce in the U.S. says it launched a platform on its website inviting people who were interested in resettling to fill in a few basic details. We don't know the professions of these people, so we don't know if they qualify for resettlement, if they're farmers.

And this is just an expression of interest. These are not people who've applied for resettlement yet but they say they're interested in this. And according to Sikusa, around 67,000 people filled in this form and have expressed an interest in resettling to the United States. Most of them were aged between 25 and 45 and the majority of them had dependents that would be coming to the US. Mayenny Jones. Winston Churchill, who was British Prime Minister during the Second World War, was also a writer and an enthusiastic amateur painter. Now one of his landscapes, the Bay of Ayres, is being auctioned off in a modern art sale in London. It's estimated to go

for up to £800,000 or a million dollars. Nicholas Orchard is head of Modern British and Irish Art at Christie's London. He told Christian Fraser about why there's so much interest in this painting. Winston Churchill's paintings, all of them generate interest. He's just loved in many ways and painting is just one part of it. And this view in particular is a really, really attractive scene in the south of France. And, you know, just looking at it makes you think about, hmm, wouldn't I like to be there on holiday?

Did he paint it after the war? He painted it after the war, 1958. So it was later in life as he died in 1965, but he only took up painting when he was 40. So he was a late arrival to the passion of painting. And it was a great passion for him and his most important pastime. Is it a good piece of painting or is it more the figure who painted it? Well that's a really good question and the answer to that question is it is a good

painting but he was an amateur painter, so I'm sitting on the fence in that answer of course, but really what I'm saying is that of course the man who painted it is all important in Churchill paintings because the story behind Churchill, he was his insignificance as an individual in the 20th century can't be underestimated. And so there are a great number of passionate lovers of everything to do with history around Churchill of which painting is one part. How many others are there? Because I know he was a traveller through the war. Did he take a sketchbook? Did he paint while he was travelling visiting the troops? No. So he painted around 550 oils and he painted almost exclusively in oil. So a sketchbook wasn't part of what he did, but he only painted one painting throughout the whole of the Second World War and that was in 1943, a famous painting that's called the Tower of the Ketubia Mosque, a view in Marrakesh and in fact that painting he painted after the Casablanca Conference when he took Roosevelt to Marrakesh to see the

sun setting on the Atlas Mountains and then gave it to him as a present. Where has this painting been up to this point and how much is it worth? So the painting was, well Churchill gave it to his eldest daughter and it stayed with her and eventually was sold in 2007 to the current owner and they are now got to a stage in life where they feel it's time to move it to the next person who might love it like they have. The estimate is five to eight hundred thousand pounds. Wow five to eight hundred thousand pounds. Wow, five to eight hundred thousand pounds? Yeah. Goodness. So that's going to attract an awful lot of bidders, you would expect.

It would be a shame, would it not, if it left the UK? Well, that's an interesting question. There are a lot of Churchill paintings in the UK, including a really great number of them at Chartwell, his house in Kent, as well as quite a few at Blenheim Palace where he was born and grew up. But he is passionately loved in America in particular as well, so we do see quite a few in America too. Nicholas Orchard. Still to come. The Tour de France is not the biggest bike race on earth, it's the biggest annual spawn event on earth. And what the Tour de France showcases as well is the beauty of the place.

And what better place to show that than Edinburgh? The 2027 Tour de France will start in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, for the first time in its history. I'm Zing Zing. And I'm Simon Jack. And together we host Good Bad Billionaire. The podcast exploring the lives of some of the world's richest people. In the new season we're setting our sights on some big names.

Yep, LeBron James and Martha Stewart to name just a few. And as always, Simon and I are trying to decide whether we think they're good, bad or just another billionaire. That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa faces an election in April but is currently struggling in his campaign to get re-elected. He promised a military crackdown on gangs. But while murders have fallen slightly, violence

remains very high, largely fuelled by drug gangs fighting over cocaine trafficking routes to Europe and the US. Now he wants the US, European and Brazilian armies to help him stamp out the cartels. Our South America correspondent, Ioni Wells, interviewed him at the Presidential Palace in Quito. Did he also want President Trump to designate Ecuadorian gangs as terrorists, as he's done with some Mexican and Venezuelan cartels? Yes, because I don't consider they are criminal gangs. They started as criminal gangs, yes, but now they aren't. They're groups that have 14 to 15 thousand armed men and women. They extort, they transport drugs, human trafficking, organ trafficking, illegal mining. These are international

narco-terrorist groups that operate in several countries. Yes, I would be glad if he considers Lobos, Los Choneros, Tiguerones as terrorist groups because that's what they really are. I want to talk about security now as well. This January, Ecuador saw a record number of homicides. Is your iron fist approach to tackling this, militarizing the streets and prisons, not working? and fist approach to tackling this, militarizing the streets and prisons, not working? There are cycles. There's always additional violence and it's not a coincidence right before an election. I've spoken to some people here in Ecuador who, as a result of criminal gang violence,

have had to witness relatives of theirs being mutilated by criminal gangs. Do you empathize with people who just want to flee the country? They feel it's too violent for them here? Of course, of course, 100%. But this is something that has been created in the last 10 years. It's not that it occurred in the last year. This is the product of a lack of strong security policy in the last years. There's transnational crime without a transnational security

policy. So I think that's the main issue. They are united, Albanians, Albanian organizations, Mexican cartels, Colombian invisible cartels, and ex-parcs. So they all work together. But we don't have a joint security policy in the countries that are affected by these transnational criminals. We need help from other nations. You've recently announced a partnership with the military contractor Eric Prince to help your war on crime.

What is this partnership for? Is he going to be bringing mercenaries to Ecuador to help fight violent gangs? Are these the special forces from abroad that you've said are coming soon? He's advising us. He has experience in this. Can I just clarify, yes or no, are you planning to bring in forces from abroad to fight against gangs here in Ecuador? With our partners and with allies, yes, that's actually legal in a war. So you would like to bring in mercenaries from aboard, for example? Not necessarily mercenaries. We're talking about armies, US, European special forces, Brazilian special forces,

which are exceptionally good in guerrilla warfare, in urban settings. This could be a great help for us because our forces initially are low. We need to have more soldiers to fight this war. So your message to the rest of the world in a way is effectively you would like soldiers from other countries to join this fight in Ecuador? Yes, to help. It's a transnational issue. It's transnational crime. Here's the port where the drug exits. 70% of the world's cocaine exits via Ecuador. And we need the help of international forces. Ecuador's president, Daniel Nuboa.

Now picture this. Carrying up to 30 kilograms on a mountain trek. In Nepal, local guides known as sherpas have been doing this for over a century. Now trekking companies say they will use drones as well as Sherpas to transport food and equipment and remove waste from Mount Everest. I heard more from our South Asia regional editor, Ambarasan Etharajan. Usually mountain expeditions involve local guides called Sherpas. They go with the trekkers or mountaineers to various peaks and mountains in Nepal and in other countries as well, for example, in India and Pakistan. Now, for example, in Mount Everest region, from the base camp, they take one or two Sherpas,

various teams. They go all the way up to the peak. Now these Sherpas carry a lot of weight, the luggage, as well as oxygen cylinders, the basic essentials. And sometimes when you get into trouble, you have to come all the way down. It takes hours, for example, from the base camp to camp one, it can take six to seven hours to reach. Now what do these drones do? They have been piloting this program for the last one year. I've seen these videos as well. So it allows them to take some of the very key luggage like ladders, food or other equipment very quickly to Camp 1. So in 15 minutes time, they can take these equipment to Camp 1 in sort of six hours. Suppose if someone is seriously injured or he needs some

medication or he needs some additional oxygen cylinder. So these drones make it easier. And what are the reaction from the Sherpas to this because on the one hand you know this is a hard job on the other hand this is what they do this is their livelihood. This would be very useful for Sherpas who are called as icefall doctors because I met one of them at the base camp a couple of years ago. I met the whole team. So what these people do is before a season starts, for example, this spring season will start from next month. These icefall doctors, these Sherpas go, they put all the rope, the chains, they tie them to the ground and nail them all the way up to the peak. So that allows the mountaineers who come next month to hold on to these ropes and then they keep climbing up.

So this acts as a guide. But these for icefall doctors, because they are the first ones to go before anyone can go up in the mountain, the risks are enormous. Like three Sherpas died in a few years ago when there was an avalanche, when they were fixing these chains and ropes. So they can immediately send in case if they need any equipment or any medicine. So for them it is extremely useful. On the other hand, will it replace the Sherpas? They don't think so because you know we are talking about 400, 500 mountaineers

coming every year to Mount Everest. They get the permit to go up to scale the peak. So you need at least two Sherpas for each mountaineer or sometimes people take in a big group. They cannot carry huge amount of equipment. These mountaineering expeditions involve massive amount of equipment. These mountaineering expeditions involve a massive amount of equipment. They need to be taken along with these Sherpas to set up camps and camps, one, two, three, four, and then they go up the summit. So these drones can be providing very vital help.

Ambarisan Atherajan, a new leader of the Olympic movement will be elected on Thursday. After 12 years at the helm, the IOC president Thomas Bargh has reached the end of his mandate. So who will replace him as arguably world's most powerful official? Voters and contenders have been gathering at an exclusive resort in western Greece, from where Alex Kapstik reports. Members of the International Olympic Committee have been transported to this remote scenic destination next to the Ionian Sea in southwest Greece for what's been described as the most important presidential election in recent history. I think it's critical. The Olympic Games is perhaps the greatest event on the planet.

It's critically important that the next president comes in and addresses some of the major challenges that are faced. That's John Tibbs, an Olympic PR veteran who's been advising host cities and sporting federations for decades. As he explained, under the outgoing President Thomas Back, the leadership role has been transformed. I think he's really elevated the status of the Olympic movement to be almost a state in its own right. Thomas Back is fated by many world leaders and meets and greets world leaders. So it really does have a very prestigious role in global geopolitics and that's mainly down to him.

So there are some big shoes to fill with six men and one woman in the running. Guessing a winner dominates conversations throughout this Greek resort. Any clues are scarce. The ultra-secretive election process has been compared with a papal conclave. All that's missing is puffs of white smoke. Under the rules, official contact with IOC members and open debates has been restricted. It annoys a lot of people like presidential contender Prince Faisal bin Hussein of Jordan. What we're looking at as being candidates is to become the president of the largest

sports movement in the world. And I think in fairness and transparency and integrity, the world has a right to know who is running and what they stand for. Prince Faisal is not among those considered favourites in the election. Despite the closed nature of choosing a new president, most people agree there are three front runners, including Britain's two-time Olympic champion and current boss of world athletics, Lord Sebastian Koh. It's something that I genuinely feel I've been in training for the best part of my life. Few will argue against Sebastian Koh's list of achievements, but one Antonio

Samaranch Jr whose father was president of the IOC between 1980 and 2001 has been inside the organization for much longer and then the Zimbabwe's Olympic swimming champion Kirsty Coventry who it said has Thomas Bach support, hoping to become the first female leader of the IOC. First and foremost, I want to be the best candidate to win, not just because of my gender or from where I come from. This upmarket holiday destination in Greece is designed for total relaxation. Right now, the air is filled with tension and intrigue.

Alex Kapstic. It's been announced that the men's Tour de France in 2027 will start in the Scottish capital Edinburgh for the first time in its history, with England, Scotland and Wales all set to host stages of the race. Britain last hosted the start of the world's most famous cycling race in Yorkshire in 2014. The British cyclist Mark Cavendish, who won a record 35 Tour de France stages, is delighted. The Tour de France is not the biggest bike race on earth. It's the biggest annual sport

event on earth. And what the Tour de France showcases as well is the beauty of the place and what better place to show that than Edinburgh. I think the helicopter shots, the motorbike shots, wherever you're going to have a camera, it's going to showcase this incredible city. Hannah Walker is cycling broadcaster for Eurosport. When you take a look at how many millions of people around the world watch the Tour de France every year, they tune in, whether that's for the sporting and the racing aspect, but many people around the world, they love to tune in because they love to watch the scenery. They like to see the chateaux in France. They like to learn a little bit about the culture, the food. And so I think this is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the

beauty of Scotland. And as we know, it's heading to England and Wales as well for that Grand Departure. How important is it to sort of parade this jewel in the cycling world's crown around other countries? I think it's really important because the organisers of the Tour de France are able to take the Grand Departure to different locations. You take the race to the people and so people experience the Tour de France that might otherwise never have done before. Some people might never have really heard about the Tour before. And so this is the beauty, you can take the race to them. And come 2027, it'll be the 114th edition of the men's race. And of course, we've got the women's race that's happening, although we don't know where it's going to start yet. But that's also a first to have

the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femme starting in the same location. But when it visits Scotland, if you take a look back at the last 18 years where they've taken the race and the millions of people who've been able to be exposed to this sporting event, and it's no ordinary sporting event, it's the largest annual sporting event in the world, and since 2007 when London hosted, the races visited Monaco, Rotterdam, Liège, we've been to Yorkshire in 2014, Utrecht 2015, Dusseldorf, Brussels, Denmark, Basque Country, Florence last year, next year it's Barcelona. So you think of all those millions of people who are exposed it really is a special special kind of sporting event. Hannah Walker speaking to Claire Macdonald. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast

later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcasts.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag global news pod. This edition was produced by Judy Frankel and mixed by Caroline Driscoll. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Robin Ince.

And I'm Brian Cox. And we would like to tell you about the new series of The Infinite Monkey Cage. We're going to have a planet off. Jupiter versus Saturn! Well, it's very well done that because in the script it does say, wrestling voice. After all of that, it's going to kind of chill out a bit and talk about ice. And also in this series we're discussing history of music, recording with Brian Eno, and looking at nature's shapes. So, listen wherever you get your podcasts.