Erdoğan’s main rival arrested in major clampdown on Turkish opposition

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has launched a huge crackdown to strengthen his grip on power by detaining his most serious political rival, raiding the homes of 106 opponents and banning protests for four days.

The initial shock of the Islamist president’s dramatic strike in the NATO heavyweight of 85 million people hauled the lira down nearly 13 percent against the dollar to a new all-time low, although it later clawed back some losses. The BIST-100 benchmark stock index fell more than 8 percent.

The authorities’ primary target was Ekrem İmamoğlu, the highly popular opposition mayor of Istanbul, who had been expected to emerge as the presidential candidate for the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the coming days. 

The original move against İmamoğlu had focused on whether his university diploma was valid — something that would be necessary for running for the presidency. 

The investigation snowballed on Wednesday, however, when he was arrested on charges of extortion, bribery, fraud and being both the leader and member of a criminal organization. He was also accused of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

İmamoğlu responded by dashing off a handwritten note, saying he was the victim of a political stitch-up. 

“Our nation will give the necessary response to the lies, conspiracies, traps, lies, those who violate people’s rights, and those who steal the will of the people,” he wrote, repeating the word “lies” in his hurry.

“A blow is being dealt against the will of the people,” he posted on X.  

İmamoğlu is a particular bugbear for Erdoğan, himself once mayor of Istanbul, because the CHP has now won three fiercely fought municipal elections in Turkey’s biggest city — overturning districts traditionally held by the ruling Islamist party in the latest race. 

The move against İmamoğlu came as part of a broader operation in which the homes of  journalists, CHP politicians, businessmen and even a singer were raided. 

Despite the ban on protests and public transport closures, people turned out in the streets in several cities to demonstrate and hundreds of students pushed back riot police at Istanbul University. 

Turkey’s Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç protested the judiciary was politically independent and claimed Erdoğan had nothing to do with the arrest of the mayor.

“It is impudence, to say the least, to associate the investigations and cases initiated by the judiciary with our president. Separation of powers is fundamental in our country with its legislative, executive and judicial branches. The judiciary does not take orders or instructions from anyone.” he said.

The detention of the mayor of Istanbul poses a huge dilemma for the CHP, which was supposed to name its presidential candidate on March 23. The party will have to decide whether to fight on with İmamoğlu, or switch to Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş as presidential candidate. 

Yavaş said the action against İmamoğlu posed serious questions about rule of law in Turkey. “Yesterday’s diploma cancellation, today’s detention procedures against the police and their team who gathered in front of Mayor Ekrem’s house in the early hours of the morning … This picture does not suit a state governed by the rule of law,” he said on X.

Erdoğan’s political ally, ultra nationalist leader Devlet Bahçeli, defended the actions of the authorities:  “No one is untouchable, unreachable, inaccessible, and unaccountable…I have full confidence in the Turkish judiciary.” on his X account.

On the European-level, the center-left EU Socialist party condemned “a full-scale attack by Erdoğan on the democratic opposition and civil society in Turkey.”

Since taking office in 2019, İmamoğlu has faced multiple legal cases that had the potential to ban him from politics, including allegations of official misconduct, tender-rigging, bribery and threatening an official engaged in “fighting terrorism,” all leveled by government authorities.

He has previously alleged that Erdoğan is seeking to jail him for up to 25 years.