| Reported: 15 March 2025 | Location: Türkiye |
Incident Details
On March 15, 2025, Turkish authorities arrested Ekrem Imamoğlu, Istanbul’s mayor and a key opposition figure to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The arrest triggered widespread protests across Türkiye, especially in Istanbul, where clashes erupted between demonstrators and police. On March 17, 2025, several journalists covering the unrest were detained, amid what the Turkish Journalists’ Union calls a crackdown on dissent.
The map highlights Türkiye, with Istanbul marked as the primary protest hub. Ankara and Izmir are noted for potential unrest due to reported demonstrations.
Figure 1: Location Of Incident
Comment.
Türkiye’s political landscape has progressively constricted under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, marked by a systematic suppression of dissent. The 2016 coup attempt triggered a massive purge, with over 50,000 arrests and the shuttering of more than 100 media outlets, as documented by Amnesty International. This authoritarian trend continued with the 2025 arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, a prominent opposition figure, igniting widespread protests echoing the 2013 Gezi Park demonstrations, where 8,000 injuries were reported. Media freedom has also eroded, with 68 journalists imprisoned in 2022 alone, per the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), highlighting a pattern of stifling opposition voices.
For business travellers, this rapid escalation and volatility creates significant hazards. The 2025 protests in Istanbul have disrupted major thoroughfares, stranding visitors amid clashes. Globally, similar spontaneous demonstrations have ensnared travellers in violence. In Hong Kong’s 2019 unrest, airport shutdowns trapped executives, delaying critical operations, according to BBC coverage. During Chile’s 2019 social upheaval, Santiago’s metro system was set ablaze, isolating foreign nationals and exposing them to danger. These examples, from locations that are regularly frequented by business travellers, demonstrate how quickly a security situation can arise, potentially threatening the business travel safety of your travelling employees.
Assessment.
The unrest in Türkiye underscores the necessity of practical but robust Travel Risk Management to uphold a company’s employee duty of care. Organisations are legally and morally obligated to safeguard their workforce, starting with comprehensive travel risk assessments to pinpoint vulnerabilities, like protest flashpoints or violence-prone high-risk areas. Real-time monitoring tools, such as Neptune’s Travel Risk Management app, deliver instant alerts on emerging threats, empowering companies and their staff to adapt travel plans swiftly and avoid danger zones as well as send an alert to those responsible for security if the traveller is concerned.
Practical measures enhance protection. Secure transportation, including vetted drivers or private vehicles, minimises exposure to volatile hotspots. For senior executives or high-profile staff, close protection services provide tailored security in unpredictable settings. A company’s duty of care may also (risk assessment dependant) require contingency planning, including evacuation routes, 24/7 emergency hotlines, and crisis response teams, to ensure employee safety is catered for in every eventuality. Neglecting security risk management risks employee harm, legal repercussions, and reputational loss. By appropriately prioritising Travel Risk Management, businesses can protect their people and maintain operational stability amid unforeseen global turbulence. It all starts with a security assessment.
Speak to our experts today to discuss your travel risk management plans Contact us at – Neptune P2P Group.
