Istanbul mayor detained in corruption case. He is Erdoganʼs main opponent

Istanbul Mayor and President Recep Tayyip Erdoganʼs main political rival, Ekrem Imamoglu, has been detained in Turkey as authorities investigate his links to corruption and terrorism.

This is reported by Deutsche Welle.

The Turkish news agency Anadolu adds that prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for about 100 more people, including businessmen and journalists. Imamoglu himself claimed on March 18 that hundreds of police officers were near his house. According to media reports, they searched the politicianʼs home. Later, Imamogluʼs press secretary announced that the mayor had been detained.

This came a day after Istanbul University revoked Ekrem Imamogluʼs bachelorʼs degree, allegedly due to irregularities. In total, the university revoked the diplomas and degrees of 28 people, explaining it as an "obvious mistake".

This weekend, Imamoglu, an opposition politician from the center-left Republican Peopleʼs Party, was to be nominated as a presidential candidate in the upcoming 2028 elections. However, in Turkey, a higher education is required to run for president.

The countryʼs authorities have banned demonstrations in Istanbul for four days, apparently in an attempt to prevent protests following the arrest of a politician. Monitoring resource Netblocks shows that Turkey has also restricted access to many social media sites.

Ekrem Imamoglu himself released a video in X, where he called his persecution "a blow to the will of the people".

• Ekrem İmamoğlu was elected mayor of the capital twice, in 2019 and 2023, defeating candidates from the ruling conservative Justice and Development Party of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Turkish president also began his political career as mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s.
• In 2022, a court in Turkey sentenced Imamoglu to 2 years and 7 months in prison for insulting members of the Central Election Commission. He was also banned from participating in elections at that time.

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