By Ece Toksabay and Ezgi Erkoyun
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish authorities detained President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival on Wednesday on charges including corruption and aiding a terrorist group, in what the main opposition party called “a coup attempt against our next president”.
The move against Ekrem Imamoglu, the popular mayor of Istanbul, appears to cap an aggressive months-long legal crackdown on opposition figures across the country which has been criticised as a politicised attempt to silence dissent.
Erdogan’s government denies the charges and says the judiciary is independent. It is meanwhile pressing to end a decades-long insurgency by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) after its jailed leader called for disarmament last month.
Imamoglu, 54, who leads Erdogan in some opinion polls, faces two separate investigations that also include charges of leading a crime organisation, bribery and tender rigging. TV footage showed him fixing his tie and preparing to leave his home for detention on Wednesday morning.
The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) was poised within days to name the two-term mayor its official presidential challenger to Erdogan, who has run Turkey for more than two decades.
The next election is set for 2028, but Erdogan has reached his two-term limit as president, after having earlier served as prime minister. If he wishes to run for the presidency again he must call an early election and claim he had not finished his second term or change the constitution.
In a video he shared on social media, Imamoglu said he would not give up and would continue standing straight in the face of pressure.
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel called the detention a coup attempt and called all opposition groups to unite against it. The party will go ahead and select Imamoglu as leader on Sunday irrespective, he added.
According to a statement by the Istanbul prosecutor’s office on the first investigation, a total of 100 people including journalists and businessmen are suspected of being involved in criminal activities related to certain tenders awarded by the municipality.
It said that a second investigation charged Imamoglu and six others with aiding the PKK, which is deemed a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its Western allies.
Last month, the PKK declared a ceasefire in response to jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan’s call for disarmament, marking a big step toward ending an insurgency that has left more than 40,000 dead, and that could have regional security and political ramifications.
Imamoglu’s detention came a day after Istanbul University annulled Imamoglu’s degree, which if upheld would block him from running in presidential elections.
The Istanbul governor’s office banned all meetings and protests in the city for four days.
The widening legal crackdown includes numerous indictments and the appointments of several government trustees to opposition-held municipal positions.
(Reporting by Ece Toksabay and Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Kim Coghill, Jonathan Spicer and Michael Perry)
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