Yesterday, the cities of Istanbul and Ankara were engulfed by hundreds of thousands of protesters after the mayor of Istanbul. Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested on corruption charges. His real-estate construction company was also seized as part of an investigation relating to public procurement. Turkish authorities are also accusing Ekrem Imamoglu of aiding the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) along with several others. Many others have been arrested by a sweeping operation but the exact figure remains unknown.
Turkish citizens were out in the streets to protest the government’s actions with many Turks convinced the government is finding excuses and issuing trumped up charges to clamp down on its opponents. Ekrem Imamoglu of the Kemalist-orientated and social-democratic Republican People’s Party, was considered to be the next main political challenger of the ruling-party’s candidate in the next presidential elections. The Republican People’s Party has up to 22% of the seats in the Turkish parliament with 134 deputies and is the biggest Opposition party in parliament.
Tayyip Erdoğan, of the AK Party (Justice and Development Party), is considering not contesting the next presidential elections but has earmarked his Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, as his successor.
President Erdogan has regularly abused the rule of law to target his political opponents and jail journalists. This is also not the first time that Erdogan arrested his political opponents. In 2022, Canan Kaftancıoğlu, an Opposition figure of the Republican People’s Party was jailed for five years for insulting the President. The Turkish government maintains that the judiciary is independent.
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