The arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, slated as the main opposition candidate in Turkey’s next presidential elections, has led to protests in the country
Turkey: Protests grow over arrest of Imamoğlu
“Rights, Law, Justice,” “The Internet’s down again. What’s the news from Çağlayan?” “What goes around, comes around, the people will have their day,” — these were some of the shouts and slogans that echoed through the air, bouncing off the ancient Aqueduct of the Roman Emperor Valens just 300 metres away, during protests in Istanbul at the arrest of the city’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu on 19 March.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters have been converging nightly in front of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality building and the adjacent parks and avenues in the Saraçhane quarter of Istanbul’s historic Fatih district since Imamoğlu’s arrest, protesting against the detention of a man seen as the main opposition candidate in Turkey’s next presidential elections.
The crowds have only grown larger, despite the TOMA water cannon trucks and tear gas, bans on assembly, Internet restrictions, blocks on roads and bridges, and hundreds of arrests used to discourage the demonstrations.
Imamoğlu and other Turkish Republican People’s Party (CHP) members face a battery of charges: “heading a criminal organisation,” “membership in a criminal organisation,” “extortion,” “bribery,” “aggravated fraud,” “unlawful access to personal data,” and “rigging a tender,” plus the ever handy “aiding the PKK/KCK terrorist organisation,” a reference to the Kurdish Workers Party.
In Turkey, chief public prosecutors, such as the one who filed these charges, are appointed by the 13-member Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK). Seven members are appointed by parliament, which is dominated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), four by Erdoğan personally, and the two remaining members are the Justice Minister and Undersecretary, both Erdoğan appointees.
According to a survey conducted by the Turkish polling firm Saros Research in February, 31.3 per cent of those polled said they would support the CHP while 30.3 per cent would vote AKP if the elections were brought forward. More significantly, in a head-to-head contest for the presidency, 54.4 per cent would vote for Imamoğlu compared to 45.6 per cent for Erdoğan. Another scenario pitting Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş against Erdoğan gave Yavaş 56.6 per cent and Erdoğan 43.4 per cent.
It is little wonder that CHP Chairman Özgür Özel described Imamoğlu’s arrest as a “coup against our next president.” IYI (Good) Party Chairman Müsavat Dervişoğlu called it a “civil coup,” and Ali Babacan, head of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), said that “what we experienced… was tantamount to a coup attempt by an elected government.”
Former prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who now heads the Future Party, lamented “the greatest shame, the greatest disgrace and scandal”.
The charismatic Imamoğlu cemented his reputation in the March 2019 local elections in which he ran for mayor of Istanbul. Although he beat his AKP rival by 13,000 votes, the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK), accepting an AKP challenge, annulled the results.
This led to a new contest in June 2019, which Imamoğlu won by 800,000 votes. A significant portion of that was made up of AKP voters who had switched sides in protest. In the interim between the annulled results and the rerun, Imamoğlu’s iconic slogan – Her şey çok güzel olacak! (“Everything will be very beautiful!”) – went viral, its message of hope and resilience resonating beyond Turkey’s borders.
In 2022, Imamoğlu was tried and sentenced to jail for “insulting election officials.” The charge was based on a statement he made three years earlier in which he referred to the officials who had annulled the March 2019 election results as “fools.”
The trial and subsequent sentence, widely perceived as an attempt to eliminate a political rival ahead of the municipal elections, drew massive protests. The sentence, which included a ban from politics, has remained unenforced pending appeal.
Although the alternative of enforcing it remained available, Imamoğlu was stripped of his university degree. Under Turkish law, a prospective candidate for president must have at least a four-year university degree.
Accordingly, on 18 March, following an investigation instigated by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), Imamoğlu’s certificate from the Istanbul University was annulled on a technicality — the university should not have accepted his transfer from Girne American University in Cyprus in 1990, as it was not officially recognised at the time.
Turkish commentators have remarked on the timing, soon after he delivered on Syria and a few weeks after US President Donald Trump was sworn in. Erdoğan, they say, is banking on Trump’s transactionalism and his affinity for strongmen.
However, during Trump’s first term, Turkish-US relations went through some rough patches, especially following the arrest, in 2016, of the American Pastor Andrew Brunson on an espionage charge. Tensions remained high for at least two years, during which Trump imposed sanctions against Turkey, causing the Turkish lira to plummet.
Some Turkish news outlets have picked up a recent commentary on the website of the highly influential US think tank the Rand Corporation. Beneath the headline, “Turning Towards Turkey: Why NATO Needs to Lean into Its Relationship,” the article argues that Turkey is not just important to NATO and the West at this juncture, but “indispensable.”
Turkey has NATO’s second-largest army, it notes, and Erdoğan is considering contributing troops to a “peacekeeping force” in Ukraine. “Behind the scenes, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is already urging deeper cooperation between Turkey and the European Union,” the article said.
Beyond its military contributions, Turkey has diplomatic, cultural, and economic ties in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, so “Turkey can serve as NATO’s bridge to regions where Western credibility is limited.” The article concludes by saying that “European leaders must abandon the illusion that Turkey will ever be the Westernised, values-driven ally they wish it to be. Instead, they must engage with the Turkey that exists today. A more transactional relationship, where shared interests take precedence over ideological alignment, is the most realistic approach.”
This commentary, appearing on the website of a think tank closely aligned with the Western military and security establishment, appeared the day before Imamoğlu was arrested on half a dozen charges. Erdoğan apparently received the message: the West may make grumbling noises, but it will take no serious action against Ankara’s democratic backsliding and human rights abuses.
On Sunday, the Istanbul 3rd Criminal Court of Peace in the Çağlayan district ruled that it did not have enough evidence to detain Imamoğlu on the terror-related charges; however, it ordered his detention pending trial on the corruption-related charges. He was then transported to the high security Marmara Penitentiary in the Silivri district.
That same morning, millions streamed to the polls to vote in the CHP primary to elect its candidate for the 2028 presidential election. The poll was also open to non-CHP members. That evening, at another massive gathering at Saraçhane, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel announced that 1.6 million out of 1.7 million party members had voted for Imamoğlu. But he received a huge endorsement from non-party members as well, over 13 million, as reported by Reuters, citing the CHP.
Erdogan, now in power for over 20 years, is probably calculating on holding early elections. If he waits until 2028, he will need a constitutional amendment to be able to run for a third term. However, this would not be necessary if Parliament calls for elections before the end of his current term. According to the Saros poll, 69 per cent of Turkish voters support holding early elections.
In the days that lie ahead, Imamoğlu’s team will appeal his pre-trial detention, which if successful would enable his release pending trial, though the indictment and trial themselves could take weeks if not months. Meanwhile, the demonstrations are likely to persist, fed by frustration at the ailing economy, which reeled further due to the sudden clampdown on Erdoğan’s foremost rival.
Would the CHP be in the position it is in today if it had taken a firmer stance against the abuses of the law and the weaponisation of terror-related charges that led to the imprisonment of former HDP (People’s Democratic Party) Co-Chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yüksekdağ, the dismissal of hundreds of elected HDP mayors and MPs, the detention of thousands of HDP members and supporters, and the eventual banning of the HDP?
Imamoğlu is effectively a victim of the steady erosion of Turkish civil rights and political liberties. Still, perhaps the persistent mass demonstrations are a sign that the CHP has learned the lesson and, hopefully, in the end “everything will be very beautiful.”
* A version of this article appears in print in the 27 March, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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