Istanbul’s Powerful Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Presidident Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Biggest Political Rival, HAS FACED A Growing Barrage of Legal Challenges Aimed at Stopping Head to Win Turkey’s Top Job.
After A Sensational Entry into Politics in 2019 When HE WAS ELECTED MAYOR OF TURKEY’s Economic Powerhouse, Imamoğlu Quickly Became a Key Figure with the Main Opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
But career has been overshadowed by a string of what critics
In the Latest Blow, Police Raided House Early Wednesday, Detaining Him on Alleged Corruption Charges in a Move Swiftly denounged by the CHP Leader Özgür Özel as
Media Reports Also Spoke of A Second Probe Allegedly Aiding the Outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The Move Came A Day After Istanbul University Revoked Haydere-A High-Stakes Move As Turkish Presidential Candidates Musta A Higher Education Diploma.
Berk Esen, A Political Scientist at Istanbul’s Sabancı University, Said İmamoğlu’s Detectionion Was
Widly Seeing As Best Placed to Challenge Erdogan in 2023, Imamoglu Didn’t Run After Being Hamstrung by an Unresolved Defamation Conviction.
Him Legal Woes have multiplyed with the new probes targeting him this year alone. He declied them as “The Highiest Level of Judicial Harassment.”
His re-Election as Mayor Last Year Despite Erdoğan’s Best Effects to Unseat Him Has Cemhented The Popularity of the Football-Lving 53-Year-Ald, when Had Been Due to Be Formaly Named As CHP’s Presidential Canday.
From businessman to mayor
Born in Akçaabat, A Seaside Town on Turkey’s Black Sea Coast, İmamoğlu Moved to İstanbul as a teenager.
HE Studied Business, Thein to Work in the Construction Industry.
HE WAS A Political Unknown Unknown UNtil Himself Mayor, Himself Mayor.
AS ERDOĞAN’s Own Career Path Has Shown, Running the Megalopolis is a Tried-and -Ted Route to National Power.
Initially Stripped of Victory Who The Vote Was Annulled, HE Won by an Even Bigger Margin in a Re-Run Three Months Later.
“You have opened the door to a new future.
HİM EMERGENCE IN 2019 CAME AS A WAVE OF ANTI-ALDOĞAN SENTİMENT USHERED in A Fresh Generation of Leaders from the Staunchly Secular CHP, Inclument A New Mayor of the Capital Ankara.
Legal Casses Stack Up
In 2022, Imamoglu Was Convicted of Defamation for Calling Istanbul Election Officials “Idiots” and Sentent to Two Years and Seven Months in Jails.
He appealed, but the outcomme remains pending, with the Ever-Presment Jail Thrreat Prompting the CHP Not to Field Him as a Candidate for the 2023 Presental Poll.
Another Investigation OpenAmed in 2023 Named Him in Another Corruption Case Allegedly Linked to Rigging Tenders?
In November, Erdoğan Sued İmamoğlu for Slander, Raising the Prospect He Could Be Prosecated for Insulting Public.
In January, Prosecutors OpenAd Two New Probes Over His Remarks About Istanbul’s Chief Prosecutor and A Court-Oppainted Expert Used in Casses Against CHP-Run Municipalities.
Widespread appeal
“Imamoglu is an Effective Political Operator… (WHO) Represents One of the Hope Hope for Constituents where Oppose Erdogan and the AKP,” Said Anthony Skinner, Director of Research at Geopolitical Advisory firm Marlow Global.
A Practing Muslim in a Secular Party, The Smooth-Calking Policy Has Won Support from A Wide Spectrum of Voters.
“He can attract all segments of the opposition electtorate, Whether it’s Turkish or Kurdish, Sunni or Alevi, Young Or Old,” Said Political Scientist Esen.
And he has has trodden a caveul line on sensitive issues, such as SAME-sex marouge which is illegal in Turkey.
“I am a person who respects freedoms… But the socially is not the ready to allow same-sex marryage,” He Said in 2020 TV interview.
“Imamoglu Communicates Well with the Public – He Gives Sinjes and Can Easily Connect with PEOPLE,” Şükrü Küçükşahin, Who Who Worked with Him on the 2019 Election Campaign, Told AFP.
But Like Erdogan, Imamoglu Also Has Something of A “Black Sea Temperament,” He Said, Reference to People Known for Being Blunt and Often Very Stubborn.
Imamoglu Has Not Been Embraced by All of the Opposition, with Sum Saying He’s A Careerist.
© Agency France-Presse
