Why the democratic future in Türkiye to the world

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The writer mayor Istanbul. Writes from Celvry Prison

Türkiye is moving in Europe and Asia and fixes both the Black Sea and the eastern Mediterranean, and it is located at a crossroads of continents, cultures and conflict areas. To the north, Russia’s war in Ukraine. To the south, the Middle East. Through all this, Türkiye remains a major player in global trade, security and diplomacy. Our direction is important – not only for us, but for the stability of the international system.

Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the path of Türkiye has presented a convincing model: a Muslim republic, a democratic republic that moves modernity. But under Tayyip Ardoğan, who is 22 years old, he revealed this model. Democratic institutions have eroded, the opposition was criminalized, and the judiciary has been criminalized. This democratic decline has depth the economic crisis and the spread of public despair.

Since I became the mayor of Istanbul in 2019, she asked for an alternative. Unlike Erdogan’s authoritarian populism – for a long time on promises, short in delivery – we have made what I call development the peopleA civil model based on human dignity, practical solutions and audience confidence. This vision was confirmed in 2024 when Istanbul’s 16 million mayors were elected for the third time. Our victory was part of the full national success of the Republican People’s Party (CHP). The message was clear: Türkiye’s people are ready to change.

As general support increased, I announced my nomination for the president. But instead of respecting this momentum, the government escalated a campaign. They flooded our administration with investigations and threats to the municipal services clinic. My university diploma – which was issued more than three decades ago and required for presidential positions – has been canceled arbitrarily. Then, on March 19, four days before my nomination was to be officially approved, hundreds of police surrounded my home. I was held on charges of unfounded corruption and to help terrorism with more than 100 others, including the closest consultant and municipal colleagues.

I am writing these words from a cell in Silveri prison, where many elected officials, academics, journalists and activists are also held. He was imprisoned on the basis of mysterious rumors of a handful of the so -called “secret witnesses”. There is no conviction against me. I am a political prisoner.

My position behind bars is not a victory for Erdogan. On the contrary, it raised the awakening. The students were the first to take to the streets. Hundreds of thousands – organizing gatherings at the level of al -Qaeda and firing a boycott against the media and companies related to Erdogan’s care networks. More than 15 million citizens participated in the CHP open primaries to nominate me as a presidential candidate. This is a collective position for our democratic future.

I created the government’s attempt to repair me a manufactured crisis that forced the Central Bank to combust through reserves to support the Turkish lira. What was described as a return to “rational” economic policy after giving up the proximity to 2023 for political survival.

Türkiye’s stability did not matter its citizens only. As the second largest army in NATO, signed by the Council of Europe, and a long -term candidate for the European Union, our political orientation is essential in the security of Europe, the via Atlantic alliance, the Middle East region and the widest Caucasus region. The war in Ukraine showed the need for strategic coordination urgently across this geopolitical arc. The developments in Syria and the continuous tragedy in Gaza show the speedy instability across the border.

In each of these theaters, secular democratic Türkiye is not only useful – it is necessary. While the European Union seeks to strengthen itself against the increasing challenges, the presence of democratic Türkiye is indispensable. The regime that controls its youth, crushes the opposition and is governed by fear, will only deepen regional fluctuations.

With the re -formation of global supply chains, geography and our industrial base make us a natural partner. However, these capabilities can only be achieved if the country is governed by economic policies with credibility, transparency and rules. Otherwise, the investor’s confidence and capital flows disappear elsewhere.

For more than two centuries, the Turkish people fought for constitutionality, civil representation and justice – the legend that tyranny is the natural state of Turkey. Democratic solidarity around the world is now necessary to build our common future. The global wave of democratic decline may have started in Türkiye. I think the reaction will start here as well.