ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu is fighting a series of legal battles on charges of corruption, insulting officials and terrorism links amid a widening crackdown on the opposition in Turkey.
Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival, first became mayor in 2019, delivering a major electoral defeat to Erdogan’s ruling AK Party (AKP). He secured a second term in 2024, when his main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) swept most of the country in local votes.
Pollsters said Imamoglu’s lead over Erdogan has firmed since his arrest and jailing pending a court ruling.
Here is a timeline of the crackdown on Imamoglu and other figures that the opposition has criticised as a politicised and anti-democratic push in Turkey, a major emerging market and a NATO member country that Erdogan has run for 22 years.
October 31, 2024 – A Turkish court jails, pending trial, Ahmet Ozer, the CHP mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district, on charges of links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, banned as a terrorist group in Turkey.
January 17 – A court jails, pending trial, Riza Akpolat, the CHP mayor of Istanbul’s central Besiktas district, in an investigation into an alleged criminal organisation suspected of rigging public tenders by bribing public officials.
March 18 – Istanbul University annuls Imamoglu’s university degree over irregularities, dealing a blow to the party days before it was set to pick him as its presidential candidate in the next election due in 2028. Having a degree is a pre-condition for being a presidential candidate.
March 19 – Turkish police detain Imamoglu on charges of corruption and aiding a terrorist group, in what the main opposition party calls “a coup against our next president”. The move triggers a lira currency slide of up to 12% to an all-time low of 42 against the dollar, while bonds and stocks also slide amid investor worries that the rule of law is being eroded. The central bank responds by suspending one-week repo auctions and hiking its overnight lending rate to 46%.
March 21 – Protests against Imamoglu’s detention spread across Turkey in the biggest show of civil disobedience in more than a decade.
March 23 – A Turkish court jails Imamoglu pending trial on corruption charges, further inflaming protests by hundreds of thousands of Turks. On the same day, millions of CHP members and non-members endorse Imamoglu as the party’s presidential candidate.
March 25 – Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek and Central Bank Governor Fatih Karahan tell international investors they will do whatever is needed to tame market turmoil triggered by Imamoglu’s arrest.
March 27 – The number of people detained in the nationwide protests nears 1,900 and Turkey rejects what it says are prejudiced foreign statements regarding Imamoglu’s arrest.
April 2 – The government denounces opposition calls for a mass commercial boycott following Imamoglu’s arrest, describing them as an economic “sabotage attempt”.
April 11 – Imamoglu appears before a court for the first time since his arrest and denies earlier and separate accusations that he insulted a prosecutor.
April 14 – The head of the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights watchdog, tells Reuters it is worried about any violations of rights in Turkey after the jailing of Imamoglu.
April 17 – The central bank hikes its key interest rate by 350 basis points to 46% in a surprise move that reverses an easing cycle following the market turmoil triggered by Imamoglu’s arrest.
April 30 – A court jails, pending trial, 18 Istanbul municipality officials on corruption charges in a further widening of the crackdown on the opposition and Imamoglu.
(Reporting by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Gareth Jones)
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