In Türkiye, Erdogan’s critics believe that democracy is eroding after the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has entered this year in the face of a knot of political problems with a few years in two decades at the top of power in Türkiye.

Voters were constantly angry at high inflation. The popularity of his political party sank. His opponents gathered around the mayor of Istanbul, Ikrim Eamoglu, who explained that he was shooting at the presidency.

Then, Wednesday, just four days before the mayor was appointed as a presidential candidate for the political opposition, dozens of police officers He arrested him at his home On accusations of corruption and terrorism.

Mr. Erdogan’s enemies consider that the arrest of a trick to thwart the Imamoglu presidential campaign before it begins. Analysts, opposition leaders and foreign officials say at stake, not only who will be the next president in Turkey, analysts, opposition leaders and foreign officials, but to what extent, is still considered democracy, one of the 20 largest economies in the world and an American ally in NATO.

“Türkiye has never been a perfect democracy, but the arrest of a presidential candidate saves this division to another level,” said Arifi Kos, a doctorate candidate who studies Turkish policy at East Anglia University in Britain. She said that by using the state’s authority to imprison the competitive elections, it means that it is approaching a fully authoritarian country. ”

Mr. Erdogan has taken control of Turkish policy since 2003, and is the first prime minister at that time since 2014. During that time, he supervised the tremendous economic growth and has repeatedly led the ruling Justice and Development Party to victory in the polls.

But over the past decade, its critics say, has strengthened its control by eroding Turkish democracy, storing the state’s bureaucracy with loyalists, and cooperating in the media to reduce negative coverage and cultivating public prosecutors in the states and judges to punish his enemies legally.

However, most experts did not consider Türkiye to be explicit tyranny, because many civil freedoms are still based on elections – and sometimes they won, as they did in Municipal races throughout the country last year.

Analysts said that the question now is whether Türkiye will remain a mixture of democracy and tyranny or turn greatly towards the latter.

Hassan Sinar, a professor of criminal law at the University of Alarus or Azerbaijan, said, where he causes a great difference, which defends another elected official from ISTANBUL accused of terrorist ties, that the exception from Mr. Imamoglu from the presidential race Turkey in countries with countries such as Russia, Belarus or Azerbaijan, where a great difference occurs.

He said: “They have elections, but they are the so -called elections because the president himself is designing the opposition and determining who will run against him.”

On Thursday, Mr. Erdogan rejected the opposition’s calls for protests to arrest the mayor as “plays”.

He said: “The opposition never responds to the allegations made by the judiciary.” “Instead, they are limited to political slogans, and to resort to the easy way to stimulate their base and deceive the public.”

Political turmoil came when Türkiye found itself in a good situation to benefit from recent global events. A rebel group supported by the new government in Syria. The Trump administration has not shown great attention whether its foreign partners follow democratic standards. The concerns that the United States will stop supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia has prompted European leaders to search for stronger defense relations with Türkiye.

Analysts said that these interests could exceed foreign criticism of Mr. Erdogan’s governance. US officials have said little about the arrest of Mr. Imamoglu, but some European leaders expressed concern.

Counselor Olaf Schools from Germany on Thursday described his arrest as a “very bad sign” of Türkiye’s relations with the European Union.

He said: “We can only call for an end to this immediately, for the opposition and the government to stand in competition with each other, and not the opposition that is brought to the court.”

The current second presidential term for Mr. Erdogan ends in 2028. The constitution allows only two periods, but it can be legally running again if Parliament calls the early elections, which is widely expected. Mr. Erdogan, 71, can put in vote against Mr. Imamoglu, 54.

The detention of the mayor followed a series of recent government moves against imagined critics.

Since January, a well -known journalist and a worker representing famous representatives regarding the anti -government protests have been arrested more than a decade ago that the state has been suppressed and criminalized.

Last month, two senior officials of a prominent business association criticized the government’s economic program, and the trials of prominent personalities and insufficient adherence to the rule of law. The public prosecutors were accused of the state for publishing false information and recommending the prison sentences for up to five and a half years.

Since October, the authorities have removed three municipal mayors in the Istanbul region on corruption and terrorism. One was replaced by a government appointment.

Less clearer personalities have also fallen from the government. Mengam was arrested last month and was accused of insulting Mr. Erdogan and another major politician. The Ministry of Commerce at the Food Code, which has positively reviewed a restaurant supported by the IMAMOGLU city government to find out if he had been paid to do so.

Mr. Imamoglu became a mayor in a dissatisfied victory in 2019. The government got the results, referring to the alleged violations, but in a re -re -Mr. Imamoglu again with a larger margin. He was re -elected last year, and defeated a candidate supported by Mr. Erdogan.

During his time in the position of mayor, the government launched 42 administrative investigations and 51 judicial investigations for Mr. Imamoglu, as his assistants, who is seeking to manage and remove him from the presidential race. In one case, a defendant of corruption stands during a previous job as the pillar of the region. In another person from public officials, he was convicted by contacting the judges who overturned his first victory in 2019. The ruling has appealed.

Before his arrest this week, Mother’s pain, Istanbul University, announced that he canceled his diploma, citing inappropriate measures in his transfer from a university in northern Cyprus, which he controlled in 1990.

Despite these roads on the roads, the popularity of Mr. Imamoglu remained high, which made him a threat to Mr. Erdogan.

Mr. Essen said: “It has made it clear that Yarghaban is that the train is moving, that it comes in its direction, and he will not be able to stop it by regular means.” As a result, Mr. Erdogan “went to the jugged”.

Prosecutors accused Mr. Imamoglu, under the leadership of a criminal organization, supervising bribery, nominating bidding and other crimes in the city hall. He is a defendant in another investigation of supporting terrorism by coordinating a political group.

Türkiye’s opposition pledged to move forward in the preliminary elections on Sunday to nominate its presidential candidate and called for protests against his detention.

The government banned public demonstrations in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, closed the main streets and metro stations, and the restrictions of access to social media platforms used by activists to organize them. People have called for trust in the legal process and insisted that the courts are independent.

“The attempt to link judicial investigations and cases with our president, at the very least, is to do boldness and lack of responsibility,” Justice Minister Yelmes Tonk told reporters on Wednesday.

“The judiciary does not take orders from anyone,” he said.