The Turkish authorities arrested the main political rival of President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday on accusations on Wednesday, including corruption and helping a terrorist group, in what the main opposition party called “an attempted coup against our next president”.
This decision against Ekrem Imamoglu, the popular mayor of Istanbul, seems to cap an aggressive legal repression of a month against opposition personalities across the country, which the opponents qualified a politicized attempt to silence dissent.
The government of Erdogan denies criticism and says that the judiciary is independent. It is urgent to put an end to an insurrection of several decades by the Kurdistan workers’ party (PKK).
Imamoglu, 54, who directs Erdogan in certain opinion polls, faces two distinct surveys which also include accusations of direction of a criminal organization, corruption and tender rigging. TV images showed him fixing his tie and preparing to leave his home for detention Wednesday morning.
The main republican opposition people party (CHP) was ready in a few days to appoint the mayor of two mandates of his official presidential challenger to Erdogan, who directed Turkey for more than two decades.
The next elections take place for 2028, but Erdogan has reached its limit of two terms as president, after having previously been Prime Minister. A referendum of 2018 on a new constitution has paved the way to hold the power even for so long.
Limited social media
The authorities closed several roads around Istanbul and prohibited demonstrations in the city for four days in an apparent effort to prevent demonstrations after arrest. Turkey has also limited access to social media platforms, including X, Youtube, Instagram and Tiktok, said an internet observatory.
The main index of the Istanbul Stock Exchange dropped by seven% compared to the news of the arrest, which triggers a temporary stop to prevent the sale of panic and stabilize the market. The Turkish LIRA has lost about seven% of its value compared to the US dollar.
Erdogan was confronted with his worst electoral defeat last year when the Imamoglu CHP swept away the big cities of Turkey and beat its AK party in power in former bastions of the national municipal elections.
In a video he shared on social networks, Imamoglu said he would not abandon and continue to stand up to pressure.
“We are faced with great tyranny, but I want you to know that I will not be discouraged,” said Imamoglu.
The chief of the CHP, Ozgur Ozel, described the detention as a coup attempt and qualified all the opposition groups to unite against. The party will go forward and will select Imamoglu as a leader on Sunday, he added.
“Turkey goes through a coup against the next president. We are faced with an attempted coup here,” he said.
Human Rights Watch described the charges against the mayor as “politically motivated and false”, and said that he had to be released immediately.
Erdogan’s office did not immediately comment on when asked for statements that detention was a political decision.
Dozens of other detained persons
According to a statement from the Istanbul prosecutor’s office on the first survey, a total of 100 people, including journalists and businessmen, were subject to detention orders, suspected of being involved in criminal activities linked to certain tenders awarded by the municipality.
He said that a second investigation accused imamoglu and six other people to help the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey and its Western allies.
Last month, the PKK declared a cease-fire in response to the call to the disarmament of the imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan, marking a big step towards the implementation of an insurrection which left more than 40,000 dead, and which could have regional security and political ramifications.
The detention of Imamoglu occurred one day after the University of Istanbul canceled the diploma of Imamoglu, which, if confirmed, would prevent it from presenting itself to the presidential elections.
In 2019, Imamoglu was forced to a repeated election for the mayor after the ruling party challenged the first vote on alleged irregularities, and the Turkey Electoral Council canceled the results and revoked the mandate of Imamoglu after 18 days. Many voters were indignant and he won a second vote.
The expansion of legal repression includes numerous accusation acts and the appointments of several government administrators to the municipal positions held from the opposition. As part of the latter, the leader of the nationalist party Umit Ozdag has been held since January.
Turkish police arrested thousands of civil servants, politicians, soldiers and even some in their own police after a 2016 coup attempt to overthrow Erdogan.
