Turkey arrests Istanbul mayor, a top Erdogan rival

What happened

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested Wednesday morning, days before he was slated to be chosen as his opposition party's presidential candidate in Turkey's next election. Istanbul's governor banned public gatherings in the city for four days after the detention of Imamoglu, widely seen as the top political challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but protesters still flooded the streets in a "display of public anger not seen in years," the BBC said.

Who said what

The arrest marked a "dramatic escalation" in Erdogan's "crackdown on the opposition and dissenting voices in Turkey," The Associated Press said. Ozgur Ozel, the head of Imamoglu's Republican People's Party (CHP), called the arrest a "coup attempt against our next president." Imamaoglu said in a social media post shortly before his arrest that "we are facing great tyranny" but "the will of the people cannot be silenced."

The Istanbul chief prosecutor's office ordered the arrest of Imamoglu and about 100 other people on allegations of membership in a criminal organization, bribery, fraud and data theft, among other charges. Imamoglu was also accused of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan People's Party, evidently because the CHP had an informal deal with an alliance of left-wing and pro-Kurdish parties to avoid competing with each other in the 2024 local elections. Imamoglu won reelection last year and his party made significant gains against Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party nationwide.

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Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc told reporters it was "at best, presumptuous and inappropriate" to link the arrests to the Erdogan government, insisting the judiciary acted independently. Imamoglu faces multiple lawsuits and other efforts that could disqualify him from seeking the presidency, including Istanbul University's decision Tuesday to invalidate his diploma, citing alleged irregularities in an intercollegiate transfer in 1990.

What next?

The next scheduled presidential election is in 2028. Erdogan is term-limited and could run again only by calling early elections or amending the constitution. Jailing Imamoglu "shows a level of desperation" that could backfire on Erdogan by making his chief rival a "political hero," Soner Cagaptay at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy told The Associated Press. "I think Erdogan is in trouble and not Imamoglu."