Pikachu was among the thousands of protesters seen fleeing from the Turkish police after they took to the streets in Antalya on Wednesday. The people and the Pokemon were out to voice their frustration over the recent arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. He was arrested pending trial for graft and aiding a terrorist group.
In the video, captured from the other side of the street, was a person in an inflatable Pikachu costume running away from the police. The person in the Pokemon costume was seen at different spots during the protest.
Pikachu running from the police with protestors in Turkey pic.twitter.com/OFvGFuwcg7
— non aesthetic things (@PicturesFoIder) March 27, 2025
This person has gone viral on the internet, with comments like “I’m crying at the way it runs off”, another user wrote, “The Pokemon have risen against Erdogan”, “Does Ash Ketchum know about this?”, another user joked.
Why Is Turkey Protesting?
Imamoglu, a member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) is the biggest rival of the current president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the 2028 Presidential Election. Imamoglu’s arrest triggered the largest anti-government protests in a decade and led to mass arrests across the country.
As per the Reuters report, Imamoglu’s March 19 detention occurred just a day after a university revoked his diploma, a major requirement for presidential candidacy eligibility. The arrest came only days before his expected nomination as the CHP’s presidential candidate for the upcoming election, amidst an extensive legal crackdown on the opposition, with Imamoglu being a central target.
The CHP, along with other opposition groups, rights organisations, and Western powers, criticised the case against the mayor after he was removed from his position due to the charges, describing it as a politically motivated attempt to sideline a potential electoral rival to President Erdogan.
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According to Reuters, the government denies any influence over the judiciary and says the courts are independent.
Further, CHP has called on Turks to continue protesting, saying it would organise rallies and gatherings at different locations in Istanbul and elsewhere. However, Erdogan has dismissed the protests as a “show” and warned of legal consequences for protesters, as reported by Reuters.
Erdogan has dominated Turkish politics for more than two decades, and he has reached his term limits. If he wishes to run for the 2028 elections, the parliament will either need to call for early elections, or he will need to change the constitution.
