Last Wednesday, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu (pictured) was arrested on corruption charges, including bribery, extortion, fraud, and bid rigging. In addition to those charges, he was accused of aiding and abetting terrorism as he was suspected of having ties to a Kurdish paramilitary organization, the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), though these charges were dismissed by the court. İmamoğlu was forcibly removed from his position as mayor and is now detained in Marmara prison, north of Istanbul, along with 47 other suspects arrested with him who are currently pending trial.

İmamoğlu is considered the main political rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Described by Erdoğan as “a Greek imported into Turkey and supported by terrorists,” İmamoğlu has for years been a prominent politician whose message has always been a call for optimism. İmamoğlu became mayor of Istanbul in 2019 after winning the annulled March elections and regaining office with a decisive victory in the June re-run elections of the same year. On the night of his re-election, he enthusiastically declared to the crowd: “We have won and tomorrow will be a beautiful day that will smell of peace, humanity, brotherhood.” The arrest occurred shortly before he was set to be nominated as the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) candidate for the 2028 presidential election after being voted for by more than 15 million people in the party’s primaries, according to the CHP.

In the past week, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to demand İmamoğlu’s release, resulting in the largest wave of protests in Turkey in a decade. However, police have brutally suppressed the demonstrations, adopting an inflexible policy against those deemed a threat to public safety. As of Thursday, nearly 2,000 protesters have been arrested, and several cities, including Ankara and Izmir, have imposed five-day bans on demonstrations despite the right to demonstrate being formally recognized by the Ministry of Justice. Erdoğan justified the repression by stating that the protests were aimed at destabilizing the country and accused the opposition of links to corruption and terrorism. He stated: “We see an anti-corruption operation in Istanbul being used as an excuse to foment unrest on our streets. I want it to be known that we will not allow a handful of opportunists to bring unrest to Turkey just to protect their looting schemes.”

The arrest of Istanbul’s mayor is seen by many as a political attempt to remove an increasingly dangerous rival to Erdoğan’s power. Hence, the current president may have secured his victory in the next presidential elections. Nonetheless, he has reached the limit of terms of office allowed by the Turkish Constitution, and therefore, in order to run again, he would need to pass an amendment to the Turkish Constitution. However, approval of a constitutional amendment would require the consensus of a qualified majority in Parliament, comprising votes from the opposition.

Believed to be a pretext by the government to crack down on its opponents, the arrest has become a symbol of the erosion of democratic principles and the rule of law. The European Union has spoken out on this concern—the European Commission released the following statement on the day of İmamoğlu’s arrest: “Today’s detention of Istanbul mayor İmamoğlu and the arrests and charges brought against . . . [many] others since the beginning of the year, give rise to questions regarding Türkiye’s adherence to its long-established democratic tradition. . . . As an EU candidate country and long-standing member of the Council of Europe, Türkiye is expected to apply the highest democratic standards and practices.”

As İmamoğlu is arguably the only politician capable of defeating Erdoğan in the next elections, his arrest signals a departure from democratic principles and the rule of law. The staggering number of arrests implies a growing authoritarian inclination of a president who exploits his position in order to remain in power as long as possible. The EU and the United Nations should continue to keep their eyes on Turkey and prepare to place checks on abuses of power.