A court formally arrested the mayor of Istanbul and key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on March 23 and ordered him to be sent to prison until the end of his trial on corruption charges.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was detained after a raid on his home earlier this week, sparking the biggest wave of protests in Turkey in more than a decade. His arrest has also deepened concerns about democracy and the rule of law in Turkey.
His imprisonment is widely seen as a political move to remove a key opponent from the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028.
Government officials have denied accusations that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and have insisted that Turkey's courts act independently.
The official arrest comes after his opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), began holding internal elections to choose its presidential candidate, with the aim of supporting Imamoglu for the post, despite his arrest.
This party has placed symbolic ballot boxes across the country – calling them “solidarity boxes” – and allowing citizens who are not party members to express their support for the mayor of Istanbul.
The mayor's arrest marks an escalation of the government's crackdown on opposition figures and critical voices.
Before his arrest, Imamoglu was already facing several criminal cases that could result in prison sentences and a political ban. He was in the process of appealing a sentence handed down in 2022 for insulting members of Turkey's Supreme Electoral Council.
Earlier this week, a university revoked his degree, saying there were irregularities in Imamoglu's transfer from a private university in Cyprus nearly 30 years ago. The decision effectively bars him from running for president, which requires candidates to have university degrees. Imamoglu has vowed to challenge the decision.
Imamoglu was elected mayor of Turkey's largest city in March 2019, dealing a major blow to Erdogan and his party, which had ruled Istanbul for a quarter of a century. Erdogan's party had tried to annul the local election results, claiming irregularities.
After that, the elections were repeated and Imamoglu won again./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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