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Turkish authorities formally arrested and charged a top rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as officials tried to curb the spread of growing anti-government protests.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was set to be named the presidential candidate for Turkey’s opposition on Sunday, but his jailing on corruption charges hobbles his bid; authorities also imposed a protest ban and travel restrictions on Istanbul.
The arrest “crossed the line separating a competitive authoritarian system from a truly autocratic Turkey,” Le Monde wrote.
But the US and Europe are unlikely to push back against Ankara, a Turkish opposition lawmaker wrote: Washington needs Turkey in countering Iran’s influence in the Middle East, while Europe sees the country as critical to its defense against Russia.
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İmamoğlu, who has been removed from the Istanbul mayor’s office and remanded in jail pending trial, was first detained last week in a sweeping operation along with 100 others.
Days earlier, his alma mater Istanbul University, voided his diploma, citing decades-old irregularities: That, too, was seen as an effort to remove İmamoğlu from presidential contention, since Turkey’s constitutions mandates that the president completed higher education.
Still, his party’s presidential primary went ahead on Sunday, with İmamoğlu as the sole candidate. The country is set to hold its next leadership election by 2028: Erdoğan, who is in his second term, has previously said he would step back from politics at that time, as Turkish presidents have a two-term limit.
The political upheaval is likely to further dent market confidence in Turkey, analysts said. The lira hit a record low against the dollar as investors warned of capital flight: “Turkey has already been in decline, but this is a political freefall,” one Turkey-based economist told CNBC after İmamoğlu’s detention.