Erdogan crosses the Rubicon, Imamoglu and over hundred names arrested

TURKEY - In Brief 19 Mar 2025 by Atilla Yesilada

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Erdogan has crossed the Rubicon in his quest to regain eligibility for a third term. His choice is an all-out assault on CHP to paralyze the party, too weak to call for elections for or even maintain eligibility for them for the next year or so. Late yesterday, University of Istanbul invalidated Ekrem Imamoglu’s diploma, rendering him ineligible for candidacy and triggering a court battle which will last at least two years. It is unclear whether Imamoglu can run in the presidential elections until the final appeal to Turkey’s Constitutional Corut and later to ECofHR are concluded. There is precedent both ways. This morning, Ekrem Imamoglu, his press secretary Mr Murat Ongun, Istanbul CHP Sisli and Beylikduzu borough mayors, as well 108 businesspeople, municipal employees and journalists were arrested. The prosecutors claim Imamoglu and accomplices formed a tender fixing ring, as well as funneling money to PKK and an obscure left-wing terror organization called DHKP-C. I don’t have time to explain how ridiculous these charges are, neither do you, to read them. These arrests are politically motivated and it is more important to foresee what will happen next. While I’m still hazy about Erdogan’s motivations in ordering the crack-down (because as I tried to explain in the last Weekly Tracker, ultimately they will prove futile), I’m fairly certain what the next steps will be: Numerous probes will be launched into the affairs of CHP Ankara mayor Mr Mansur Yavas to eliminate him from the presidential race, too. I’m fairly certain soon a DA will petition the courts to have the administration of main opposition party CHP turned over to a court-appointed trustee, to make sure th...