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00:00Protests in Turkey next continue into a seventh day. Let's show you the scene in
00:03Istanbul. It is absolutely jam-packed. An estimated 500,000 people in the city out
00:11there protesting. The city's mayor remains in detention. He is Ekrem
00:15Imamoglu. He's seen as a major rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
00:19Imamoglu has been arrested on what his supporters are calling bogus
00:22allegations of corruption and supporting Kurdish terrorists. Paris Space
00:27Reporters Without Borders is also condemning the arrest of seven
00:29journalists who've been covering these protests. Turkey's President Erdogan
00:36spoke a little earlier. I invite everyone to know their limits, maintain moderation
00:46and not to cross the line between seeking rights and engaging in insult
00:51and vandalism. Those who spread terror in the streets and want to turn this
00:58country into a fire have no destination. The path they take is a dead end.
01:05Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Jasper Mortimer is standing by for us. We join
01:09him live now in Ankara. Jasper, a very good evening to you. What's the latest you
01:13can tell us? Mark, I've got a series of snapshots for you. The first one I'm
01:18going to begin with that vast crowd outside the Istanbul City Council
01:23offices. I'm glad you've got pictures of it. They have been listening to the
01:28leader of the opposition, Özgür Özel, who has been leading the protests against
01:35the government since Mayor Ikram Imamoglu was detained on Wednesday
01:41morning. Özel announced that tonight is the last of the nightly protests. In
01:48future, the opposition will call demonstrations on specific occasions.
01:54The next one is scheduled for Saturday night in the Istanbul district of
01:59Maltepe. Now, Erdogan said yesterday that the protests would fizzle out, so he will
02:06be well pleased by this development. But tonight's crowd is as big as last
02:13night's crowd. It is not true that the people's support for the opposition
02:18cause is fading. It does seem, however, that after seven nights in a row, the
02:24opposition is deciding to conserve its energy. There have also been
02:28demonstrations in Ankara, where I am, and in Shishli, a district of Istanbul, where
02:35the government deposed the elected mayor and appointed a government official in
02:41his place. And there, the protesters in front of the police have been doing
02:46push-ups in the street, as if to say, look how peaceful we are. They're trying to
02:52make it as hard as possible for the police to act against them. In another
02:57snapshot, seven journalists have been detained pending trial, charged with
03:03failing to leave the scene when the police ordered the crowd to disperse. Now,
03:08this is rather weird. Mark, you've been a reporter, you will know. When the police
03:14give the order to disperse, reporters take to the sidelines and watch what
03:19happens. It is their job to report on what follows, a baton charge or rubber
03:24bullets or whatever. So this is an unusual prosecution. Also, the Istanbul
03:32prosecutors have written a letter to the opposition party, demanding that it take
03:37down the posters of Ekrem Imamoglu that are plastered all over the city. They
03:43say the government has suspended Imamoglu as mayor of the city, and so
03:48the posters should be removed. The party responded it would not take down the
03:54posters. Jasper, you were telling me earlier that the police are now
03:57investigating Ankara's mayor. What can we read into that? Yes, I think this is
04:05the most worrying development. You know, the Ankara City Council has said that
04:12prosecutors are investigating the mayor on allegations of misuse of public funds.
04:19No charges yet, it's just an investigation. Now, the mayor of Ankara,
04:24Mansur YavaÅŸ, has a sterling reputation. He's been mayor of the city of five
04:30million people for six years. I've never heard of his being investigated for
04:35corruption before. Opinion polls say he is more popular than Imamoglu. He
04:41doesn't have Imamoglu's charisma, but he has a reputation for being business
04:47like, and being a good administrator. Now, if Erdogan manages to disqualify
04:55Ekrem Imamoglu from the presidential race, undoubtedly the opposition would
05:01ask Mansur YavaÅŸ to take up his mantle and be the opposition's candidate in
05:07the next presidential election. So I think supporters of democracy in Turkey
05:13would be extremely worried to hear that Mansur YavaÅŸ is now being
05:18investigated himself, because it suggests that President Erdogan is
05:22trying to clear the opposition from the field, eliminating both YavaÅŸ and
05:29Imamoglu from the presidential race. Jasper Mortimer, thank you for that
05:34insight into what is happening now in Turkey. As you say, it looks like
05:38hundreds of thousands of people are on the streets. That is spreading across
05:42the country, and that alarming news that Ankara's mayor is now under
05:46police investigation too, suggesting a more wider clampdown by President
05:51Erdogan on any opposition. Jasper Mortimer, our correspondent there in
05:54Ankara, thank you so very much indeed. Time now for Truth or Fake.