İmamoğlu in Court: A Trial About the Future of Türkiye

The mayor of Istanbul, who had been imprisoned for a year, waited in such a cell Ekrem İmamoğlu to his trial, which started on Monday. Heavily armed soldiers guarded the courthouse behind barricades, facing hundreds of İmamoğlu’s supporters. His arrest sparked the largest protests since the so-called Gezi-Protes 2013 triggered; they have continued for weeks and resulted in nearly 2,000 arrests.

Observers, politicians and NGOs criticize the process as politically motivated – İmamoğlu is the most popular politician from Turkey’s largest opposition party, the Kemalist CHP. The public prosecutor accuses him of this Creation of a criminal organization, bribery and money laundering before. For President Recep Tayyip Erdogan İmamoğlu was always a personal opponent: until his election in 2019, the Islamic conservative AKP had ruled the metropolis for 25 years. After the first round of voting was canceled, İmamoğlu won by an even larger margin – more than 800,000 votes. To this day, the CHP’s conquest of Istanbul is considered Erdoğan’s worst defeat.

Could Erdoğan still win the 2023 presidential election, his party ended up in the nationwide vote Local elections 2024 (35.5 percent) for the first time only in second place behind the CHP (37.8 percent). Several CHP mayors in other Istanbul districts and major cities such as Adana and Antalya have since been jailed or deposed over similar allegations.

Erdoğan fears one Change of power. After İmamoğlu was named in March 2025 as a fixed candidate for the next presidential elections, which will take place in 2028 at the latest, the arrest followed.

Opaque evidence

Critics as well as İmamoğlu himself had doubted in advance that a fair trial would await him. Shortly after it began, the negotiation resumed interrupted. There had previously been loud applause, heckling and whistles from supporters in the hall. That the process is over Years was clear in advance; Negotiations will continue on Tuesday.

The indictment, which runs to 4,000 pages, is both voluminous and opaque: much of the evidence is based on witnesses whose identities are kept secret. Become İmamoğlu illegal agreements and accused of illegally awarding construction contracts. There are biased statements from prosecutors and the president himself. The fact that Erdoğan died in February also caused sharp criticism Prosecutorwho led the investigation, for Minister of Justice has appointed.

Candidacy unlikely

Whether guilty or not: İmamoğlu’s political future is even more serious than the current trial Cancellation of his university diploma – A completed degree is a prerequisite for running for president. Even if the trial ends before the next elections and ends without a guilty verdict – which is doubtful – İmamoğlu would not be able to run.

This is probably exactly what Erdoğan is after: After İmamoğlu’s arrest, the CHP currently only remains the party leader Özgür Özelwho is far less charismatic and mobilizing. Özel had also already been targeted by the judiciary on suspicion of “insulting the president”. However, a court dismissed the lawsuit.

İmamoğlu, who continues to post messages on social media through his lawyer with the outside world, let them know: An election in which he is not allowed to run “would be an election in which the president’s legitimacy ends.” Before the trial began, İmamoğlu said: “I will not defend myself – I will be the one to judge.”