In Türkiye, Erdogan's criticisms see democracy erode after the detention of the mayors of Istanbul

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan entered this year against a node of political problems with little precedent during his two decades at the top of power in Türkiye.

Voters were angry with constant and constant inflation. Its political parties have flowed. And his opponents had merged around the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, who clearly indicated that he had shot the presidency.

Then on Wednesday, only four days before the mayor was appointed as a candidate for the presidential election of political oppositions, dozens of police arrested him at his home for accusations of corruption and terrorism.

The enemies of Mr. Erdogans consider that arrest is a ploy to interrupt the presidential campaign of Mr. Imamoglus before it even begins. The stake is not only that will be the turkey, the next president, analysts, opposition leaders and foreign leaders, but to what extent Turkey, one of the 20 largest economies in the world and an American ally at NATO, can still be considered a democracy.

Turkey has never been a perfect democracy, but the arrest of a presidential candidate puts this imperfection on another level, said Arife Kose, a doctoral student who studies Turkish politics at the University of East Anglia in Great Britain. The use of the power of states to seize the competitive elections, she said, means that it is close to a completely authoritarian country.

Erdogan has dominated Turkish policy since 2003, first as Prime Minister and then as president since 2014. During this time, he supervised great economic growth and repeatedly directed his justice to power and the development party for victory in the polls.

But in the past decade, he said his criticism, he has solidified his control by eroding Turkish democracy, storing state bureaucracy with loyalists, coopping the media to limit negative coverage and cultivating state prosecutors and judges to legally punish his enemies.

However, most of the experts did not consider Turkey as an outright autocracy, because many civil freedoms remain and the opposition parties have challenged the elections and sometimes won, as they did in municipal races across the country last year.

The question now, said analysts, is whether Turkey will remain a mixture of democracy and autocracy or to move considerably to the latter.

With the exception of Mr. Imamoglu of the presidential race would put Turkey in the league with countries like Russia, Belarus or Azerbaijan, where the elections occur, but make little difference, said Hasan Sinar, professor of criminal law at the University of Istanbul, at Altinbas University, in Istanbul, who also defends another official accused.

They have elections, but it is so-called elections because the president himself conceives the opposition and decides who will run against him, he said.

Erdogan rejected opposition calls on demonstrations against the arrest of mayors as a theater on Thursday.

The opposition never responds to the allegations presented by the judiciary, he said. Instead, they limit the question to political slogans, using the easy way to cause their base and deceive the public.

Political disorders came while Turkey has been well placed to benefit from recent world events. A rebellious group he supported leads the new government in Syria. The Trump administration has shown little interest in knowing whether its foreign partners follow democratic standards. And the concerns that the United States will stop supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia have prompted European leaders to seek stronger defense ties with Turkey.

These interests could blunt foreign criticism from Mr. Erdogans' governance, analysts said. US officials spoke little about the arrest of Mr. Imamoglus, but some European leaders have expressed their concern.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany described the arrest to stop a very, very bad sign for turkey relations with the European Union.

We can only ask that this ends immediately and that the opposition and the government stand in competition with each other, not the opposition translated into justice, he said.

Mr. Erdogans Current, the second presidential term ended in 2028. The Constitution only authorizes two terms, but he could legally run if the parliament called the first elections, which are widely expected. This could put Mr. Erdogan, 71, on the ballot against Mr. Imamoglu, 54.

The arrest of mayors followed a series of recent government movements against perceived criticism.

Since January, a well -known journalist and an agent who represent famous actors have been arrested in the context of antigan -government demonstrations over ten years ago that the state has removed and criminalized.

Last month, two senior officials of an eminent commercial association criticized the economic program of governments, the prosecution of important personalities and the insufficient membership of the rule of law. State prosecutors charged them for the dissemination of false information and recommended prison terms of up to five and a half years.

Since October, the authorities have withdrawn three mayors from the Istanbul district on the accusations of corruption and terrorism. One was replaced by a person appointed by the government.

Less important figures have also come across the government. An astrologer was arrested last month and accused of insulted Mr. Erdogan and another main politician. The Trade Ministry investigated a food vlogger that positively examined a restaurant subsidized by the government of Mr. Imamoglus to see if he had been paid to do so.

Mr. Imamoglu became mayor in a victory upset in 2019. The government withdrew the results, citing alleged irregularities, but in a overhaul, Mr. Imamoglu again won by an even greater margin. He was re -elected last year, beating a candidate supported by Mr. Erdogan.

During its mayor time, the government launched 42 administrative investigations and 51 judicials on Mr. Imamoglu, declared its employees, who seek together to hinder its administration and to withdraw it from the presidential race. In one case, he is accused of corruption in a previous job as a district mayor. He was sentenced to another insulting officials by calling for the judges who canceled his initial victory in the 2019 fools. He called on the verdict.

Before his arrest this week, her Alma Mater, University of Istanbul, announced that she had canceled her diploma, citing inappropriate procedures in his transfer from a University of Cyprus to the North controlled by the Turks in 1990. He swore to appeal, but if the decision arises, it could take it off from the presidency because the Constitution stimulates that the president must have a university degree.

Despite these roadblocks, the popularity of Mr. Imamoglus has remained high, making it a threat to Erdogan, said Berk Esen, an associate professor of political science at Sabanci University in Istanbul.

He clearly told Erdogan that the train moves, he comes in his direction and he will not be able to stop him with the normal means, said Esen. Consequently, Erdogan opted for the jugular.

The prosecutors accused Mr. Imamoglu of directing a criminal organization and of supervising corruption, the caliber of auctions and other crimes at the town hall. He is accused in a second investigation of supporting terrorism thanks to his political coordination with a pro-Kurdish group.

The opposition of the turkeys promised to go ahead with the primary on Sunday to appoint it its presidential candidate and called for demonstrations against his detention.

The government has banned public demonstrations in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, closed the main streets and metro stations, and restricted access to the social media platforms that activists use to organize. He called on people to trust the legal process and insisted that the courts were independent.

Trying to associate judicial and business investigations to our president is, to say, an act of audacity and irresponsibility, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Justice, journalists, said the separation of powers a fundamental principle on Wednesday.

The judiciary does not take orders to anyone, he said.