New wave of repression underway Thousands protest against the arrest of Erdogan rival Imamoglu

Istanbul's mayor Imamoglu, a promising challenger to President Erdogan, has been arrested. The Turkish opposition is outraged - and the EU Commission is alarmed.

DPA

20.03.2025, 06:13

dpa

Thousands of people in Turkey have protested against the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. In Istanbul and the capital Ankara, the crowds called on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to resign and accused him of trying to eliminate his biggest rival by arresting him. There were riots and arrests on the fringes of the protests, according to media reports. Imamoglu's CHP party, the most important opposition force in Turkey, spoke of an attempted coup d'état. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the arrest as "extremely worrying".

Imamoglu is considered perhaps the most important opponent and potentially the most promising challenger to the authoritarian head of state Erdogan in the presidential election scheduled for 2028. The social democratic CHP wanted to elect him as its candidate on Sunday. Erdogan has not yet commented on the case - not even in a speech in the evening. The action against Imamoglu was not only criticized in Turkey and Brussels, but there were also demonstrations in Berlin.

Imamoglu was arrested in a large-scale raid on Wednesday morning. The investigating authorities, who according to critics are being instrumentalized by Erdogan for political purposes, accuse him of corruption and supporting terrorism. According to the state news agency Anadolu, at least 87 other people were arrested along with Imamoglu and a total of 106 are under investigation.

Ban on demonstrations in Istanbul province

Imamoglu was taken to the police headquarters in Istanbul after his arrest and is expected to make a statement there. According to the Turkish Bar Association, it could take until Sunday for all statements to be taken.

According to current polls, Imamoglu would have had a good chance of winning the upcoming presidential election. Erdogan has led Turkey as head of government or president for more than 20 years and was once mayor of Istanbul himself. According to the current constitution, he is not allowed to run again as a presidential candidate in the regular election in 2028 - unless parliament votes for early elections. To do so, his party and its allies in parliament need votes from the opposition.

In Istanbul province, demonstrations were banned for four days by order of the provincial governor. A number of social networks and short message services were restricted. Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc warned against protests on Wednesday and called it "presumptuous" to link the investigations launched by the judiciary to Erdogan.

Turkey is experiencing "an attempted coup

CHP leader Özgür Özel, on the other hand, criticized that Turkey was experiencing "an attempted coup against the next potential president". He addressed Erdogan directly and accused the head of state of only taking action against Imamoglu because he would defeat him in a free election.

EU Commission President von der Leyen said at a press conference in Brussels that Turkey, as a member of the Council of Europe and EU accession candidate, must respect democratic values and in particular the rights of elected officials. "We want Turkey to remain anchored in Europe, but this requires a clear commitment to democratic norms and practices," the German said.

"It's a kind of civil coup"

The Anadolu reports state that the background to the terror investigations is a cooperation between the CHP and the pro-Kurdish Dem Party in the local elections. The parties had worked together to win majorities in municipalities.

Hürcan Aslı Aksoy, an expert specializing in Turkish politics, told tagesschau.de that it was the first time in history that the Turkish government had even prevented internal party elections. "It is a step towards full authoritarianism. It is a kind of civil coup," said Aksoy. The government in Ankara knows full well that neither the EU nor the USA are currently likely to react seriously to its domestic political actions.

Is there a threat of impeachment?

These are not the first terror investigations against political officials and Erdogan opponents in Turkey. Mayors of the pro-Kurdish Dem party in particular have recently been removed from office due to such investigations and replaced by pro-government administrators. It is unclear whether this could also happen in the case of Imamoglu. In addition to him, the mayors of two Istanbul municipalities and a well-known singer have also been arrested.

New wave of repression underway

The planned nomination of Imamoglu as the CHP's presidential candidate so long before the election could be due to his party wanting to protect him from political repression. He is facing prison sentences and political bans in a series of further proceedings, although Imamoglu denies any guilt.

Legal proceedings against members of the opposition and civil society have been increasing for months. The judiciary in Turkey is considered politicized. Also on Wednesday, investigative journalist Ismail Saymaz was arrested in connection with the Gezi protests in 2013.

Imamoglu's victory in the 2019 mayoral election in Istanbul, the most populous city and province, is considered the biggest defeat for Erdogan's party to date. His Islamic-conservative AKP had ruled the metropolis until then. Imamoglu then even won a second time in Istanbul in the 2024 local elections.