The Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office has requested hundreds of years of imprisonment for former Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a development reported by CNN Türk on Tuesday. The move, widely perceived as politically motivated, significantly escalates the pressure on Imamoglu, considered the most prominent challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The indictment accuses Imamoglu of acting as the leader and founder of an organization with the intent to commit crimes, allegations dismissed by many as a transparent attempt to silence a powerful political opponent. Further charges include bribery, money laundering and fraud allegedly perpetrated against public institutions and organizations.
The arrest and subsequent formal detention of Imamoglu on Sunday follows a wave of detentions in March that implicated over 100 individuals, including politicians, journalists and business figures. This broader crackdown has sparked widespread criticism, with Imamoglu’s removal from his mayoral position triggering some of the largest protests in Turkey in over a decade.
The sequence of events has drawn severe scrutiny from international observers and domestic critics alike, who raise serious concerns regarding the independence of the Turkish judiciary. The sudden intensification of legal proceedings against Imamoglu, a popular figure who previously garnered significant public support, casts a long shadow over the fairness and impartiality of the legal process, fueling speculation about direct political interference. The case is expected to further polarize Turkish society and will likely intensify debates about the erosion of democratic norms under Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian rule.
