On Tuesday, Istanbul's public prosecutor's office started an investigation into recent calls by the opposition to boycott businesses that support the government. This comes after the arrest of the city's mayor.

The state-run Anadolu Agency stated that the prosecutor's office concluded that "divisive rhetoric" on social and traditional media that was intended to impede the economic activity of a particular group of people amounted to hatred and discrimination as well as incitement to hatred and violence. Anadolu stated that the new investigation will be combined with ongoing cases related to physical and verbal violence against certain businesses.

Last month, Turkey witnessed its biggest protests in over ten years after the arrest of Istanbul's opposition Mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu. He is a key political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and was jailed while awaiting trial on corruption charges, which many believe are politically motivated. However, the government maintains that the judiciary operates independently without political influence. Ozgur Ozel, the leader of the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), which Imamoglu is a part of, organised several rallies. These events were attended by hundreds of thousands of people to protest Imamoglu's arrest. Ozel criticised pro-government media for not reporting on the rallies and urged people to boycott more than a dozen companies that advertised with those media outlets. 

A website listing these companies for the boycott was launched on March 25 but was blocked by a court order just two days later. Then, on Tuesday, just hours before the prosecutor's office began its investigation, Ozel took to social media to call for a general boycott. He urged people to stop all purchases on Wednesday as a protest against the arrests of both Imamoglu and 301 university students who were detained during the demonstrations. Trade Minister Omer Bolat called the boycott an act of economic sabotage. Speaking to Anadolu, he stated that businesses facing financial losses due to the boycott can take legal action to claim compensation.