The arrest of popular Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu last Wednesday, hours before he was due to be endorsed as the main opposition challenger to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, marks a new low in Turkey’s slide into authoritarianism. Over the weekend he was formally charged.
The regime has followed up with arrests of opposition activists, allegedly over corruption in local government. More were detained after big demonstrations on Sunday. The mayor’s university has also stripped him of his degree, for supposedly an improper transfer from another college – the Turkish constitution requires a presidential candidate to have a degree.
Imamoglu is accused of corrupt practices in municipal business, bribery, fraud, and money laundering, as well as aiding a terrorist organisation over contacts with a pro-Kurdish party. The formal charge at the weekend – which he denies – was in relation to the corruption allegations.
First elected mayor in April 2019, he had seen that vote overturned by the notoriously partisan Supreme Electoral Council (SEC) after complaints of irregularities from Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The election was re-run and Imamoglu was re-elected with a larger share of the vote. He has since faced repeated politically motivated legal challenges.
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Imamoglu has recently been polling ahead of Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics since 2003, first as prime minister and then, from 2014, as president. Presidential elections are not due until 2028, but an early poll would allow Erdogan to circumvent term limits.
Although Erdogan and his AKP won the 2023 presidential and general elections, their once seemingly invincible machine has come under increasing pressure due to a combination of an economic crisis and concerns about growing authoritarianism. But Turkey’s newfound importance to European defence, coupled with Trump’s return to the White House and his avowed willingness to work with strongmen, may have emboldened Erdogan. Turkish democrats are paying the price.
