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Jailed Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu Joins New Opposition Party Amid Political Turmoil

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), addresses his supporters from the top of a bus after giving testimony to judicial authorities at the Justice Palace, known as Caglayan Courthouse, in Istanbul, Türkiye, January 31, 2025. (Reuters)
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), addresses his supporters from the top of a bus after giving testimony to judicial authorities at the Justice Palace, known as Caglayan Courthouse, in Istanbul, Türkiye, January 31, 2025. (Reuters)
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Jailed Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu Joins New Opposition Party Amid Political Turmoil

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), addresses his supporters from the top of a bus after giving testimony to judicial authorities at the Justice Palace, known as Caglayan Courthouse, in Istanbul, Türkiye, January 31, 2025. (Reuters)
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), addresses his supporters from the top of a bus after giving testimony to judicial authorities at the Justice Palace, known as Caglayan Courthouse, in Istanbul, Türkiye, January 31, 2025. (Reuters)

Jailed Istanbul Mayor ‌Ekrem Imamoglu said on Wednesday he was joining the newly formed New Party, after a court order removed the leadership of his former Republican People's Party (CHP) amid an unprecedented legal crackdown on the opposition.

Last month, Turkish opposition leader Ozgur Ozel and 90 other breakaway lawmakers launched a new political party, seeking to regroup to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a court ousted Ozel as CHP chairman and reinstated the party's divisive former leader Kemal ‌Kilicdaroglu.

"I am ‌resigning from my 17-year membership of ‌the ⁠Republican People's Party. This ⁠decision is a result of the values I believe regarding the future of our country and the responsibility I carry towards our people," Imamoglu said in a statement on X.

"Today, we are opening a NEW path to build a stronger, more democratic and more hopeful ⁠future for Türkiye," he said, referring to ‌the New Party.

Imamoglu, Erdogan's ‌main political rival, has been jailed for more than a year ‌pending trial on corruption charges that he denies.

He ‌was elected as the CHP's presidential candidate in an internal party vote days after his detention in March 2025. His university diploma, which is a requirement for being a presidential candidate, ‌was annulled by Istanbul University a day before he was detained.

The New Party - ⁠already the ⁠second-largest party in parliament - is expected to attract most CHP voters and pose a new-look challenge for Erdogan. However, the broader splintering of the opposition could boost the president's prospects of extending his 23-year reign in the NATO-member country and regional military power.

The next elections are scheduled for 2028 but could be held earlier.

The opposition and some rights groups have called the crackdown, including the jailing of hundreds of elected CHP officials and members since 2024, politically motivated and undemocratic. The government denies this and says the judiciary is independent.

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World

Iran Insists on Diplomatic Solution after Trump Rejects Peace Plan

Iranians walk near an anti-Trump billboard in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2026. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
Iranians walk near an anti-Trump billboard in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2026. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
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Iran Insists on Diplomatic Solution after Trump Rejects Peace Plan

Iranians walk near an anti-Trump billboard in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2026. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
Iranians walk near an anti-Trump billboard in Tehran, Iran, 19 August 2026. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

Iran on Sunday insisted that only diplomacy can solve its conflict with the United States and Israel after US President Donald Trump said he rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting.

"Our conditions are clear, and any move toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz is contingent on these conditions being met," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on social media. "Only a negotiated solution can get them out of this deadlock."

Iran announced a peace proposal last week at the UN General Assembly in New York, saying it had been transmitted to the Americans via Qatari mediators. Trump said on Saturday he rejected the plan and argued that desperation was driving the Iranians’ push for an agreement on the key waterway.

"They want to make a deal to open ‌the Hormuz Strait immediately ‌because they're losing so badly," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Despite Trump's public ‌statements, ⁠mediators facilitating Iran's talks ⁠with the United States have not officially relayed a US rejection of the plan, according to Araghchi.

"We are waiting for the mediators to convey the definitive views to us, and we will make a decision based on them," Araghchi posted.

The US has imposed an economic blockade on Iran to put pressure on Tehran to stop Iranian attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which have drastically reduced shipping through the area even as Trump repeatedly asserts that the US controls the waterway.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump had rejected the Iranian proposal, citing unnamed US officials.

It said Trump was privately skeptical that Iran ⁠would meet his demands and had told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign ‌as likely after the November US midterm elections.

A US official had said ‌earlier that discussions with Iran through mediators were "positive and constructive".

CONFLICT HAS DISRUPTED OIL FLOWS, HARMED GLOBAL ECONOMY

Araghchi told reporters at the United Nations on Friday the proposed deal would trigger a seven-day countdown to reopening the strait and a pause in regional fighting.

"If there is seriousness on the US side to come to a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, everything is now prepared," Araghchi said. If the US were to agree, ‌the warring parties could start wider talks "on mutually agreed subjects."

That could potentially include discussions of Iran's nuclear program. Trump has said Tehran must never acquire a nuclear bomb, while ⁠a senior Iranian official ⁠told Reuters that Iran would show no flexibility over its nuclear program even if the US accepted its peace deal.

Iran would grant no concessions over its rights, including enriching uranium or shipping its highly enriched uranium out of the country, the official said.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in an interview with the CBS show "Face the Nation", said Tehran was ready for talks on its nuclear program and other issues, but would not accept "bullying or coercion".

"Iran is not seeking war, but will defend itself against pressure, threats and attacks,” Pezeshkian said, adding that it had already agreed that "we're not supposed to develop nuclear weapons".

Previous attempts at diplomacy have failed to end the war, which began on February 28 with US and Israeli attacks.

Since then the war has alternated between pauses and renewed strikes, killing thousands while degrading the conventional forces of Iran and damaging its already ailing economy.

World

Russia Says It Struck Military Infrastructure, Vessel in Ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, an emergency services personnel works to extinguish a fire following a Russian air attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, an emergency services personnel works to extinguish a fire following a Russian air attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
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Russia Says It Struck Military Infrastructure, Vessel in Ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, an emergency services personnel works to extinguish a fire following a Russian air attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, an emergency services personnel works to extinguish a fire following a Russian air attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

The Russian defense ministry said on Sunday its forces had carried out overnight drone strikes on logistics centers, port and transport infrastructure, as well as ‌communications centers ‌and vessels ‌that ⁠Moscow said were linked to ⁠the Ukrainian military.

The ministry said the strikes hit a data center in ⁠Kyiv, logistic hubs in the ‌Kyiv ‌and Odesa regions, ‌two drone storages in ‌Mykolaiv, headquarters of a naval base as well as of ‌the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and ⁠four ⁠military storages in the Kiliya port, and a cargo ship carrying military and dual-use goods to the port of Odesa.

Reuters could not independently verify the claims.

World

Separate Mass Shootings in South Africa Townships Leave at Least 27 People Dead

South African police officers during a raid in Johannesburg (Archive - Reuters)
South African police officers during a raid in Johannesburg (Archive - Reuters)
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Separate Mass Shootings in South Africa Townships Leave at Least 27 People Dead

South African police officers during a raid in Johannesburg (Archive - Reuters)
South African police officers during a raid in Johannesburg (Archive - Reuters)

Two separate mass shootings near South Africa’s two biggest cities killed at least 27 people, police said Sunday.

The South African Police Service said 17 people were killed Saturday night when eight suspects armed with AK-47 rifles and pistols opened fire at a bar in Wedela township, southwest of Johannesburg. At least 15 others sustained gunshot injuries in that attack, police said.

In a separate statement, police said 10 people were killed in a mass shooting at a store in Lwandle, near Cape Town, around 1 a.m. Sunday. Another 11 were wounded in that shooting. Police said they were searching for multiple suspects in that case also, though they didn't give an exact number, The Associated Press said.

The two shootings come just days after a mass shooting by three gunmen at a house party near the east coast city of Durban killed 11 people, including a pregnant woman.

No arrests had been made in the two latest mass shootings, police said.

South Africa has struggled with high rates of violent crime for years, but the series of mass shootings this week were shocking even to a country used to some of the highest violent crime rates in the world.