Soylu will sack Ekrem Imamoglu

TURKEY - In Brief 10 Jan 2023 by Atilla Yesilada

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After being banned from politics for a completely fabricated crime, Istanbul’s popular CHP mayor Ekrem Imamoglu is also facing the threat of being sacked from his post. While the government spokespeople are very vague on this eventuality, the entire main-stream opposition is already up in the air. Imamoglu’s replacement by a “kayyım” (administrator), who is certain to be a pro-AKP name will create reverberations in politics in many dimensions. What is Imamoglu’s crime? According to ultra-hawkish Interior Minister Soylu, he had employed over 1K of PKK sympathizers, even militants. The accusation is bogus because Imamoglu has complete files of all hirings, who have been thoroughly whetted by the authorities. That is, all employees must be cleared by the governorate and the judiciary as having a clean bill of criminal activity before they can be hired. But, the legality of the accusation matters little. Soylu had already petitioned an Istanbul court to start a probe into Imamoglu’s employment history. According to Turkey’s bizarre laws, Imamoglu doesn’t need to be put on trial. An investigation by the prosecutor is all that Soylu needs to remove him from office. Given Imamoglu is perceived as the biggest threat to Erdogan in the upcoming presidential race, as well as vast patronage opportunities presented by the Istanbul municipality, I don’t think legality or threats of street action by the opposition will stop him. This is where I need to get into possible repercussions. If he is sacked from his post, nominating Imamoglu as the joint presidential candidate of the main opposition alliance Table of Six (ToS) becomes too risky to attempt. Both CHP chairman Kilicdaroglu and...