Turkey heads to presidential elections: Candidate arrested and brawl in Parliament

There is a fight between political opponents in the Turkish Parliament, and protests against the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul are taking place on the streets of Turkey.
Photo: mamul.am

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has launched a huge crackdown to strengthen his grip on power by detaining his most serious political rival, raiding the homes of 106 opponents and banning protests for four days, POLITICO writes.

The initial shock of the Islamist president’s dramatic strike in the NATO heavyweight of 85 million people hauled the lira down nearly 13 percent against the dollar to a new all-time low, although it later clawed back some losses. The BIST-100 benchmark stock index fell more than 8 percent.

The authorities’ primary target was Ekrem İmamoğlu, the highly popular opposition mayor of Istanbul, who had been expected to emerge as the presidential candidate for the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the coming days.

The original move against İmamoğlu had focused on whether his university diploma was valid — something that would be necessary for running for the presidency.

The investigation snowballed on Wednesday, however, when he was arrested on charges of extortion, bribery, fraud and being both the leader and member of a criminal organization. He was also accused of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

İmamoğlu is a particular bugbear for Erdoğan, himself once mayor of Istanbul, because the CHP has now won three fiercely fought municipal elections in Turkey’s biggest city — overturning districts traditionally held by the ruling Islamist party in the latest race.

The move against İmamoğlu came as part of a broader operation in which the homes of  journalists, CHP politicians, businessmen and even a singer were raided.

Despite the ban on protests and public transport closures, people turned out in the streets in several

The detention of the mayor of Istanbul poses a huge dilemma for the CHP, which was supposed to name its presidential candidate on March 23. The party will have to decide whether to fight on with İmamoğlu, or switch to Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş as presidential candidate.

Erdoğan’s political ally, ultra nationalist leader Devlet Bahçeli, defended the actions of the authorities: “No one is untouchable, unreachable, inaccessible, and unaccountable… I have full confidence in the Turkish judiciary.”

Since taking office in 2019, İmamoğlu has faced multiple legal cases that had the potential to ban him from politics, including allegations of official misconduct, tender-rigging, bribery and threatening an official engaged in “fighting terrorism,” all leveled by government authorities.

He has previously alleged that Erdoğan is seeking to jail him for up to 25 years.

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