Mass protests erupt throughout Türkiye as the mayor of the old capital Istanbul and opposition candidate arrested on corruption charges.

Ekrem Imamoglu was the Mayor of Istanbul and set to be the candidate for the second most popular party, the CHP, in Türkiye’s 2028 Presidential elections. This would put him head to head with President Erdogan, who’s approval ratings have staggered from his 52.2% majority in the 2023 elections to 33% in polling according to politicalpules.net. The aging President has been in office since 2014, having served three terms. The 2023 election marked a turning point in Turkish electoral history with no candidate winning more than 50% of votes leading to a second round of voting between the two most popular parties; Erdogan’s traditional AK party and the party which founded the modern republic, the CHP. A key reason for this drop in approval could be the poor economy, when Erdogan came into office in 2014 one Dollar was worth 2.14 Turkish Lira, it’s now worth 37.97 Lira.

The potential next President was arrested on charges of corruption and affiliation with the Kurdish militant group known as the PKK. He first came onto the political seen when he ran for the CHP in the key city of Istanbul, which had been in the control of the AK party for 15 years, and won by 0.16%. The AK party contested the results leading to a rerun which Imamoglu won by 9.22%.

This comes after a series of crackdowns on opisthion parties in what many might view as an attempt by Erdogan to stifle the popularity of the CHP who are set to defeat him in 2028.

Despite his arrest, Imamoglu is still scheduled to be the CHP’s next candidate as a result of an emergency candidate election on Sunday 23rd within the CHP which he won with 99.77% of the CHP’s one and a half million members voting for him. His degree was also revoked by his university a day before his arrest, the three requirements for Turkish Presidency are citizenship, being at least 40 and having higher education qualifications.

This breach of democracy sparked nation-wide protests in Türkiye, over 1000 protestors have since been detained. Restrictions on public gatherings in key cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir have also been put in place, as well as further restrictions on movement and social media. Over a thousand civilians and several police officers have been injured as a result of the anti-government protests. Alongside him, a hundred other opposition party figures have been arrested.

Even if Imamoglu is prevented from running in 2028, it is still likely the CHP will win with this event dealing a huge blow to Erdogan’s already low popularity and facing condemnation on the international stage from the EU and Human Rights Watch.