Orders of the Turkish court The main Erdogan imprisoned the trial awaiting corruption charges

Istanbul, a court officially arrested the mayor of Istanbul on Sunday and his key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and ordered him to imprison the outcome of a trial for corruption.

Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was detained following a raid on his residence earlier this week, causing the biggest Vague of street demonstrations in Türkiye in more than a decade. He also deepened concerns about democracy and the rule of law in Türkiye.

His imprisonment is widely considered as a political decision to withdraw a major competitor from the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028.

Government representatives reject the accusations according to which legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that the courts of Turkey operate independently.

The official arrest came while his republican opposition people party, or CHP, began to organize a primary presidential election to approve Imamoglu as its presidential candidate despite the arrest.

The party has also set up symbolic urns at the national level called “solidarity boxes” to allow people who are not party members to express their support for the mayor.

“Honestly, we are embarrassed by the name of our legal system,” the mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavas, a member of the CHP of Imamoglu, told journalists, criticizing the lack of confidentiality in the procedure.

“We learned television experts on the allegations that even the lawyers did not have access, showing how motivated this test was motivated by political motivation,” he said.

The Council of Europe, an organization on the scale of Europe which focuses on the promotion of human rights and democracy, criticized the decision to imprison the mayor.

“We move the decision to place the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu in detention, and to request his immediate release,” said Marc Cools who heads the Congress of local authorities of the group.

Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and author of a biography of Erdogan, said with the arrest of Imamoglu, Erdogan took an extreme measure against his key opponent.

“Erdogan is determined to do everything you need to end the career of Imamoglu,” he said. “(Imamoglu) beats Erdogan in all imaginable presidential polls.”

Cagaptay said the international environment where the European Union seems to maintain Turkey's favor in the midst of Russian security threats, and that the United States is not concerned about the domestic affairs of other countries allow Erdogan to carry out an international examination.

The EU is in accordance with and the United States faced inside, “said Cagaptay.

Before his detention, Imamoglu had already faced several criminal cases which could cause prison terms and a political ban. He also called on a conviction in 2022 for insulting members of the Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey.

Earlier in the week, a university canceled its diploma, citing alleged irregularities in its transfer from a private university in the north of Cyprus about 30 years ago. The decision effectively prevents him from presenting himself to the presidency, because the position requires that the candidates be university graduates. Imamoglu had promised to challenge the decision.

Imamoglu was elected mayor of the largest city in Turkey in March 2019, in a major blow to Erdogan and the President's justice and development party, who had checked Istanbul for a quarter of a century. Erdogan's party prompted to cancel the results of the municipal elections in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities.

The challenge led to a rehearsal of the elections a few months later, which Imamoglu also won.

The mayor retained his headquarters after the local elections last year, during which the CHP carried out important gains against the power party of Erdogan.

Copyright 2025 NPR