Turkey arrested the top political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on accusations of corruption and terrorism on Wednesday, days before he was set to be named the opposition’s candidate in the next presidential election.
The opposition blasted the arrest of the rival, Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu of Istanbul, as politically motivated and said that the government was trying to remove a potential political threat to Mr. Erdogan.
Mr. Imamoglu, 54, accused Mr. Erdogan, his associates and state prosecutors of orchestrating his arrest.
“This immoral and tyrannical approach will undoubtedly be overturned by the will and resilience of our people,” he said in a voice message sent when the police were at his home to arrest him and shared by his aides.
In a video shared on social media, also before his arrest, Mr. Imamoglu spoke from inside his closet as he knotted his tie and said that the government was “usurping the will of the people.”
“We are facing great tyranny,” he said. “But I want you to know that I will not be discouraged.”
Critics have long accused Mr. Erdogan, who became prime minister in 2003 and president in 2014, of using state institutions, including the courts and the security services, to undermine his political rivals. Mr. Erdogan’s defenders cite his history of electoral victories as proof of his popularity.
Mr. Imamoglu had on three occasions since 2019 beaten candidates chosen by Mr. Erdogan to run Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city and economic powerhouse. And Turkey’s main opposition party was expected to formally nominate him as its presidential candidate during a primary on Sunday.
The head of the main opposition party, Ozgur Ozel, called on party members to go ahead with the scheduled primary vote.
“We are faced with a coup attempt against our next president,” Mr. Ozel wrote on social media.
Turkey’s next presidential election is scheduled for 2028, but Parliament is widely expected to call for early elections before then.
Mr. Erdogan is in the second of the two terms he is allowed by the Constitution. But an early election would allow him to run again, on the grounds that he did not complete his second term. Many in the opposition also want an early vote because they believe that chronic inflation, which has been exacerbated by Mr. Erdogan’s policies, will help them at the polls.
Mr. Erdogan, 71, and officials in his governing Justice and Development Party have not publicly discussed who their candidate will be. But Mr. Erdogan has been Turkey’s predominate politician for more than two decades, and he has no clear successor. So he is widely expected to run.
Sinem Adar, a Turkey expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said the government had been laying the groundwork to exclude Mr. Imamoglu from the race for some time, given the challenge he would pose to Mr. Erdogan and the governing party’s poor showing in local elections last year.
“There is a lot of discontent in the population,” she said.
But the prevailing international mood, including the rise of far-right parties in Europe and the Trump administration’s nationalist focus, could make it easier for Mr. Erdogan to act against his rivals.
“The international context and the geopolitics help Erdogan double down on the dissidents, on the opposition,” Ms. Adar said.
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, which promotes local democracy on the continent, condemned the arrest, saying that it appeared aimed at exerting “pressure on a political figure considered as one of the main candidates in forthcoming presidential elections.”
Police officers arrested Mr. Imamoglu just after dawn at his house. Prosecutors said that related arrest warrants had been issued for more than 100 people, and the police also detained two Istanbul district mayors and a number of Mr. Imamoglu’s senior aides.
The Istanbul prosecutor’s office said that Mr. Imamoglu was accused of leading a criminal organization. Prosecutors say he took part in corrupt practices in municipal business and accused him of engaging in bribery, fraud, money laundering, personal enrichment and bid rigging.
He also faces accusations of aiding a terrorist organization linked to his coordination with a pro-Kurdish political party during last year’s municipal elections, prosecutors said. Mr. Imamoglu won that election handily against a candidate backed by Mr. Erdogan.
Mr. Imamoglu has yet to be indicted on specific charges related to these accusations, but he could be kept in detention while prosecutors pursue their investigation.
The office of Istanbul’s governor, who is appointed by Mr. Erdogan, took steps on Wednesday to head off protests about the arrests.
Public demonstrations have been banned in the city for four days, and two subway stations were closed, including in Taksim Square, a central transportation hub and large plaza where rallies have often been held.
Turkey also restricted access to social media platforms, including X, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, according to NetBlocks, an internet monitor.
By midafternoon, small, scattered protests had broken out around Istanbul.
Mr. Imamoglu’s arrest follows numerous court cases and other procedural moves against him that the opposition says are aimed at eliminating him as a political force.
In recent years, he has faced charges of corruption during his previous role as an Istanbul district mayor, and he is appealing a 2022 conviction on charges of insulting judges on the Supreme Electoral Council, which oversees elections.
Some of the cases against him could result in his being temporarily barred from politics, meaning that he could be ousted as mayor and prohibited from running for president.
In another move that Mr. Imamoglu’s supporters say seeks to exclude him from the presidential race, his alma mater, Istanbul University, announced on Tuesday that it had annulled his diploma, citing improper procedures in his transfer in 1990 from a university in Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus.
The Turkish Constitution stipulates that the president must be a university graduate.
Mr. Imamoglu has argued that there was nothing improper about his transfer and that a previous government inquiry into the matter had found nothing amiss.
Last month, the Istanbul prosecutor’s office requested a new inquiry, which led to the cancellation, a decision that Mr. Imamoglu is expected to appeal.
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