"People will wipe out tyranny". The measurement has changed. The Turkish street is filled with rage

"I have no uncertainty that the will and resilience of our nation will wipe out this immoral and tyrannical attitude," Imamoglu said in a voice message minutes before his arrest, referring to police officers standing outside his door. The mayor besides accused the authorities of “surprising the will of the people.”

Such rhetoric has made Imamoglu 1 of the most popular politicians in the country in the last six years. He was born in 1970 in the Akcaabat territory of Ile-Trabzon in the northeastern part of the country. His father owned a construction company. Imamoglu studied at the American University of Kirinia in Northern Cyprus, where his household lived for respective years, and then continued his studies at the University of Istanbul. There he obtained a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in human resources management. The future mayor then began working for his father's company.

CTK Photo/Pavel Nemecek / PAP

Turkish police usage teardrop gas during the Istanbul protest after arrest and sending Mayor of Istanbul (and presidential candidate) Ekrem Imamoglu to prison on 23 March 2025.

In the early 1990s. Imamoglu briefly participated in the youth movement of the right-liberal Homeland Party, but an active political career began in 2008. He then joined the Republican People's Party, which his parent supported. In 2009, he became head of the party's branch in the Istanbul territory of Beylikduzu. 4 years later, Imamoglu ran for mayor of the same territory and defeated the ruling Justice and improvement organization (AKP) candidate led by Erdogan. The oppositionist held this position for 5 years before deciding to run for mayor of Istanbul.

Associated Press reporter Susan Fraser, who worked in Turkey for many years, claims that fewer people in the country knew Imamoglu at the time. But politician sensationalally defeated his opponent from the Justice and improvement Party, close associate of Erdogan, Binala Yildirim. The difference between candidates was somewhat over 13,000 votes — 0.2%. The media called the consequence a "serious blow" for the government and personally for the president.

The government requested a recalculation of the votes, after which the ultimate Election Council of Turkey cancelled the consequence due to allegedly incorrectly organised observer work. Erdogan demanded specified a decision, arguing that the difference of 13,000 votes was besides tiny to make a final decision.

Critics of the president claimed that it was force from the authorities that led to re-election, which took place 3 months after the first vote. “I believe that the people of Istanbul will respond to this selfishness and keep their religion in democracy,” Imagoglu said. His hopes were fulfilled — at the end of his re-election in June 2019 he gained a margin of triumph and received 54.2% of the vote, while Yildirim received only 45 percent. Since then, Imamoglu has retained the sympathy of voters, and in 2024 he defeated another ACP candidate Murat Kurum by more than 10%.

How Erdogan came to power and won't give it back

According to BBC Turkey's publicist, Cagila Kasapoglu, Erdogan could have taken Imamoglu's triumph in the election as a individual insult, as the leader of Turkey was born in Istanbul and served as mayor of the city from 1994 to 1998. And after Imamoglu's second triumph in the 2024 mayoral election, any experts stated that he had become so popular that he could overthrow Erdogan as president.

EPA/ERDEM SAHIN / PAP

Turkish police usage teardrop gas to disperse demonstrators attempting to march to Taksim Square in Istanbul during protest against detaining Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, 23 March 2025.

"Erdogan grew up in Istanbul," notes Kasapoglu. "He sold sesame buns there before entering politics in the 1960s. This defeat was a shock to both him and his party. Istanbul is home to 1 5th of Turkey's population. It is simply a shopping, financial and tourist centre," he adds.

Kasapoglu assigns Imamoglu's popularity among voters his gentle, friendly and ironic approach to politics, which sharply contrasts with the aggressive kind of many of his opponents. Before him, progressive liberals and secularists were considered to be major supporters of CHP. However, Imamoglu managed to grow the organization fan base and attract many voters who had previously supported Erdoğan and his ACP associates.

Imamoglu first planned to run for president in 2023. At the time, public opinion polls in Turkey showed that more voters supported the Mayor of Istanbul than the head of state. However, Imamoglu could not run: in December 2022, a court in Istanbul sentenced him to 2 years and 7 months in prison for insulting employees of the ultimate Election Council of Turkey. Imamoglu has been accused of calling officials "idiots". The mayor besides received a ban on political activity. Imamoglu himself claimed that the insult was directed not to the members of the election commission, but to the head of the Turkish Ministry of the Interior, Suleyman Soyl, who made akin remarks about him.

Probably global force and discontent of Turkish voters forced the authorities to silence the case and postpone the appeal. However, due to criminal proceedings, Imamoglu could not take part in the 2023 election: his organization colleagues refused to take a chance and nominated the little popular Kemal Kilicdaroglu. This most likely allowed Erdoğan to win. In the second circular it gained 52.18 percent, while Kilicdaroglu almost 48 percent.

In November 2024 the confrontation between the president and his main opponent became even more personal: Erdogan filed a suit against Imamoglu for defamation. The indictment stated that the Mayor of Istanbul allegedly attempted to publically humiliate his rival. Imamoglu is facing up to 4 years in prison. There is no decision yet: the process is inactive ongoing.

EPA/TOLGA/ PAP

The recently elected mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu from the main opposition Republican People's organization (CHP) speaks to his supporters after being elected mayor of Istanbul, on 3 April 2024.

After the suit of Erdogan, in early 2025 Pr.ratura in Istanbul launched another investigation against Mayor Imamoglu — he was accused of attempting to influence the investigation into erstwhile cases against him and his associates. The reason for the fresh allegations were Imamoglu's words that the president and the government are utilizing the judiciary to suppress the opposition.

The day before the policy stopped in March, the University of Istanbul announced that the mayor's degree had been revoked as he violated the transfer procedure from an educational institution in Northern Cyprus in 1990. Opposition supporters see this decision as part of a run to discredit Imamoglu. Turkish law requires a presidential candidate to have a higher education. This will let the authorities to prevent the opposition candidate from moving for office even if he is acquitted in court.

In late February 2025, Imamoglu announced his intention to take part in the interior organization primaries before the next presidential election. In the same month, public opinion polls showed that the opposition leader aheads Erdogan by 6 pp. (53 to 47).

In fresh weeks before Imamoglu's arrest, he continued to meet with his supporters. However, even with this, there were problems: respective times the planned gathering places informed the mayor at the last minute that they were not ready to organize the event. On March 19, police detained Imamoglu on charges of corruption and supporting a terrorist organization. Through a terrorist organization, investigators realize the Kurdistan Workers Party, which is banned in Turkey.

Pr.ratura in Istanbul besides stated that the mayor was “the leader of a criminal group”, headed by extortion, fraud and bribery.

Emin Sansar / Anadolu/ABACAPRESS.COM / PAP

Turkey's president and leader of the Justice and improvement organization (AKP) Recep Tayyip Erdogan gives a speech during the gathering of his party's group at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara on 12 March 2025.

Ozgur Ozel, the head of the Republican People's Party, called the authorities' actions "a coup against the future president". "I invitation tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions to take part in peaceful demonstrations, to express our democratic consequence and the implementation of our constitutional rights," added the opposition leader, commenting on the arrest of a fellow organization member.

Massive protests in front of government buildings began almost immediately after the mayor was detained and have not stopped for respective days. In addition to Istanbul, demonstrations are held in the capital Ankara and the 3rd largest Turkish city of Izmir. The British “The Guardian, citing mayoral supporters, reports that 300,000 people took part in the action in Istanbul on the evening of March 21.

Some protesters are demanding a government resignation.

“She told journalists 26-year-old Azra, who attended the demonstration.

One of the recordings shows police officers utilizing pepper spray against the crowd. According to ABC News, the most violent clashes between protesters and safety forces occurred at the mediate East method University of Ankara. Police utilized not only teardrop gas there, but besides water cannons to disperse protesters. respective protesters said they were shot with rubber bullets.

Home Secretary Ali Yerlikaya said that only on March 21 the police arrested 343 people for attending rallies. Yerlikaya said that 37 another people dissatisfied with the arrest of Imamoglu were detained for “provocative entries” on social media.

said the Minister of the Interior, explaining the government's actions.

Hoping to avoid social discontent, immediately after the detention of Imamoglu, authorities imposed a four-day ban on public events and restricted access to social networks, including X, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. In addition, any streets in Istanbul were closed to block the city center. However, the protests continued. The unstable situation in the country led to the collapse of the lira — immediately after the raid on opponents, the Turkish currency exchange rate reached a historical minimum, exceeding 41 lira (4 zł 17 gr) per US dollar on the global currency marketplace Forex.

Erdogan refused to recognise political connotations of detentions and said that "the problems of a fistful of opportunists at their premises are not the problems of the full country." The president added that the authorities "do not have time for opposition performances".

What about Erdogan's another opponents?

The arrest of Imamoglu and his staff members is not the first raid in Turkey in fresh months. Since October, police have detained over 50 SNR members on suspicion of corruption and terrorist connections.

Critics of Erdogan believe that rising political tensions combined with the economical crisis may prompt the president to take extremist steps against the opposition. A possible next step for the head of state is constitutional reform, which would let him to run for the 4th time in 2028 or compose out early elections.

However, removing Imamoglu from the political life of the country may not be so easy — even despite serious charges. After the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, Musavat Dervisoglu, a associate of the conservative-nationalist Good Party, accused Erdogan of attempting to keep power by circumventing the Constitution and called the opposition to boycott the next election. Tulay Hatimogullari, head of the progressive People's Equality and Democracy Party, expressed a akin view — the mass arrests of opposition members called it "a political coup."

For now, Imamoglu remains in custody. On March 22, the mayor answered questions of the prosecutor in court, refused to plead guilty and called charges against himself and supporters “unthinkable”. The next day, it was revealed that the oppositionist would not be released until the end of the trial. However, it cannot be excluded that Imamoglu will be able to participate in the next presidential election, even if he is in prison: in 2018, Selahattin Demirtas, an opposition candidate from the Democratic People's Party, applied for office in prison. He then won 8.4 percent of the vote.

Formally, nothing stands in the way of the authorities condemning the Mayor of Istanbul to long word prison — or at least removing him from politics so that he can't run for president. However, discontent at home and abroad can force Erdogan to act more cautiously, as he did after Imamoglu's conviction in 2022.

Ekrem Imamoglu's colleagues hope that despite the seriousness of the charges, the oppositionist will not only stay free but besides defeat Erdogan. Finally, in 1997, erstwhile the current leader was mayor of Istanbul, he was arrested and accused of incitement to force and hatred for reading a fragment of a poem by Pan-Turkist Ziya Gokalpa. The future president spent 120 days in custody. He had to resign as mayor and skip parliamentary elections. However, 4 years later Erdogan returned to politics — and became Prime Minister in 2003.