Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu has been in prison for a hundred days now. The pressure on the opposition is growing and it seems that President Erdogan is ready for radical and previously unthinkable steps to choose a convenient opponent.
The Turkish authorities are increasing the pressure on the opposition. In Izmir - the third largest city in Turkey, considered a stronghold of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), more than 120 city administration employees, including former mayor Tunç Soyer, have been arrested. They are accused of corruption. Meanwhile, the Ankara court postponed the case against the HDP, in which the party's leader Özgür Özgel and other party representatives are threatened with several years in prison and a ban on political activity, the media reported.
In the days after the arrest of Turkey's most prominent opposition figure - Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu - hundreds of thousands took to the streets to demonstrate in his defense. It reached the largest protests in Turkey in 12 years, ARD points out. The protesters demanded not only the release of İmamoğlu, but also the resignation of the government, the German public media outlet points out.
Corruption charges and arrests
The state was quick to respond - with police violence and arrests. Meanwhile, a number of Istanbul city administration officials were detained on corruption charges, mayors from the opposition Republican People's Party were ousted, and cases were opened against the party's chairman, Özgür Özel, and other politicians.
Political scientist Berk Esen told ARD that according to polls, 60 to 65 percent of voters believe that these actions by the authorities are entirely politically motivated. “And this is naturally a blow to the ruling party.“
Accusations are being leveled against party leader Özel that in 2023 he bought votes in order to be elected to the party congress. Özel denies the charges, but if convicted, former President Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu could return to office, who probably has nothing against such a development, the German public media outlet points out.
Many people in Turkey see this as an attempt by President Erdogan to reorganize the opposition to his liking, as Kılıçdaroğlu would be a very convenient opponent, who has lost several elections to Erdogan in recent years. While under Özel's leadership, the Republican People's Party emerged as the biggest force in local elections.
Political scientist Esen also believes that it is not the independent judiciary that is behind everything, but the president. “First they rejected Imamoğlu's diploma, then they arrested him, and now they have even attacked the party leadership – These are all desperate steps that Erdogan is taking because he has no other way to win the elections.“
Erdogan wants a convenient competitor
And the “Süddeutsche Zeitung“ (ZT) writes that President Erdogan would definitely prefer to compete with Kilicdaroglu instead of Özel. Under Özel's leadership, the Republican People's Party (CHP) achieved its best result in the local elections last year since the 1970s, after which Özel gave the advantage to İmamoğlu as the presidential candidate. After his arrest, Özel mobilized people on the streets and did not limit himself to speeches in parliament, but also called for a boycott of concerns close to the government.
Özel is inconvenient for Erdogan, the publication emphasizes. The president has understood that for the first time he is facing a serious opposition. And his strategy is multifaceted: it began with the escalation against Imamoglu, continued with the search for rapprochement with the Kurdish minority, whose party has been part of the opposition until now, and now comes the next blow against the AKP - the president would not mind, to put it mildly, if the party got bogged down in disputes over its leader.
For weeks, Erdogan-loyal media outlets have been writing about internal conflicts in the party, although none of its leading politicians want Kılıçdaroğlu back. So far, evidence of vote buying has never emerged, and it is unclear how the party congress could be legally attacked after so long - the deadline for contesting it has long expired. And at the time, the Central Election Commission in Turkey, which also monitors internal party elections, found nothing wrong.
Will Özel's election be declared invalid?
Can the president declare Özel's election invalid and return Kilicdaroglu to the party leadership? The trial will continue in September. The goal is to force the opposition to deal with the accusations in the coming months. And to fear that the president is ready for radical, previously unthinkable steps, as the case with Imamoglu showed. And there is no rule of law to stop him, the ZC points out.