A call for a boycott of Turkish media outlets failing to report on the mass nationwide protests against the jailing and prosecution of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has been issued by Ozgur Ogel, leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).

"We are taking note of all TV channels not reporting on the protests of almost one million people in a square in Istanbul," Ozel told large crowds gathered outside Istanbul city hall late on March 23. "A boycott is coming to those who do not see this square."

Turkey’s broadcast media and other media are dominated by pro-Erdogan administration owners, while Ebubekir Sahin, head of the broadcasting watchdog RTUK, has since the protests started on March 19 issued threats to TV channels considering broadcasting the nightly gatherings in front of the municipality building in Sarachane district at which Ozel is the main speaker. Instead of focusing on the massive crowds, pro-government news channels have largely concentrated on showing alleged "provocations" by protesters.

(Credit: @ekrem_imamoglu, X).

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the afternoon of March 24 branded the protests “evil” and said the opposition was provoking a “movement of violence”, though reports and social media footage from up and down the country suggest the demonstrations have been peaceful in the main.

The past few days have seen lists of commercial companies viewed as having close ties to the government spread widely on social media and on WhatsApp groups, while the government at the same time has been periodically throttling social media channels and going to the courts to demand the closure of users’ social media accounts.

Some social network users have shared links to a website aimed at jointly identifying government-friendly companies and products to be boycotted.

Meanwhile, footage posted online on March 24 showed university students boycotting classes on university campuses across Turkey, in protest at the arrest of Imamoglu, who was detained just days before the March 23 primary vote that made him the CHP presidential candidate—despite the fact that a conviction stemming from any of the corruption and terror allegations prosecutors have raised against him would legally bar his way to a candidacy.

Imamoglu, who says his prosecution is entirely politically motivated—is widely seen in Turkey as a politician who would stand a good chance of toppling president of 22 years Erdogan at the polls in a fair fight.

The Turkish interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said on March 24 that 1,133 people had been detained during the five days of protest, with many arrested for breaching a city-wide ban on protests in Istanbul.

Media reports indicate that at least a score of journalists were among the detained.

Evin Baris Altintas, who heads the Media and Law Studies Association, a free speech organisation that assists journalists detained in Turkey, told The Guardian on March 24 that it was significant that most of the journalists detained overnight were photographers.

“The main aim is to cut off the number of people taking photos at protests,” she said, pointing to the threats from the RTUK’s Sahin to suspend broadcaster’s licences for putting out live footage of the demonstrations.

Altintas said that the detentions and threats to broadcasters formed part of the government’s attempts to stifle coverage of the growing protests in the hope of bringing the demonstrations to a halt.

“The protests are huge in number, so the authorities are trying very hard to contain that,” she said. “There’s an obvious attempt to stop the dissemination of news reports about protests, but I’m not sure how they will manage that as these are growing every day.”