When President Erdogan of Turkey arrested key political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, citing that he has ties to terrorism, people took to the streets. Imamoglu wasn't the only person arrested, but around 100 others, including business leaders and journalists who support him.
While Imamoglu made statements from jail such as "the will of the people cannot be silenced," Erdogan made public statements that Imamoglue is a "criminal organisation leader suspect."
Students protested, and the public took to the streets and subway tunnels in protest, calling Erdogan a dictator and chanting for the release of those arrested. Police came out with pepper spray against protestors in Istanbul.
The government of Turkey has restricted public internet access to foreign news and social media sites such as BBC and the platform formerly known as Twitter, so the public cannot see what international media is saying about all this.
Erdogan has reached his term limits and by Turkey's constitution cannot run again in the 2028 elections. Meanwhile various political groups who planned to run candidates against Erdogan's political party in the 2028 elections have questioned whether there can even be a free and fair election. After all, Imamoglu is not the first rival politician to be arrested and stamped down. He's just the most high profile one. Rival parties to Erdogan point to this as evidence that they're actually living in a dictatorship that still holds a veneer of a democratic constitution.
Turkey's Attorney General (Minister of Justice) has come out in defense of the President who selected him, saying that it's ridiculous to suggest that Turkey's Department of Justice would act on behalf of the President. President Erdogan too has given public statements that he would always act on behalf of the people and constitution of Turkey, and he would never engage in political persecution of rival candidates.
Whether or not Imamoglu is actually a criminal is hard to say. He has been arrested for Turkish crimes that would not be crimes in a more freedom-loving nation. He has insulted government institutions, which is considered a crime. He has also been accused of supporting the PKK, or Kurdistan's Working Party, which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey. Based on Turkey's government website article about the PKK, it sounds like this is a pretty bad group by most measures of human freedom and life.
Whatever the truth about Imamoglu and other opponents of Erdogan may be, Erdogan is himself a criminal as well. The best case scenario is that a criminal is targeting other criminals, because he somehow believes criminals should be punished, inspite of himself. Worst case scenario is that a criminal is targeting his rivals and falsely accusing them of criminality. Neither of these scenarios is good for democracy.
https://www.mfa.gov.tr/pkk.en.mfa
https://progressive.international/observatory/2024-10-24-erdoan-continues-to-commit-crimes-of-war--and-against-humanity/en
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yren8mxp8o?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter&user_id=6735d847be1b34d25a09c9f5
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