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İmamoğlu says early elections ‘only way out’ amid mounting pressure on dissidents

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Popular İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has said holding early elections is the key to eliminating the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) growing pressure on the opposition and on dissenting voices.

The mayor, seen as the strongest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, made the statement in the wake of the detention of several journalists from the pro-opposition Halk TV this week, one of whom was arrested on Wednesday.

The journalists are being investigated for broadcasting a secretly recorded interview with an expert witness whom İmamoğlu accused of “bias” in trials concerning him and other mayors from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

In a video posted on X on Thursday, İmamoğlu expressed regret over the judicial actions against the Halk TV journalists and the pressure on the media in the country

“Turkey cannot be entrusted to this mentality any longer. The only way out of this is early elections,” he said.

Turkey is slated to hold the next presidential and parliamentary elections in 2028, but there is frequent talk these days among the opposition about holding early elections.

The mayor vowed to fight the government pressure, saying his party has set out to stop the deteriorating course of events in the country and that there will be “no turning back.”

Referring to a recent announcement made by CHP leader Özgür Özel about the launch of the process to determine the next CHP presidential candidate, İmamoğlu said his party would democratically elect its presidential candidate with the votes of the party’s more than 1.5 million members.

The CHP’s decision to launch the process to determine its presidential candidate comes in the wake of growing judicial pressure on the party over the past several months, which saw the arrest of several party mayors in İstanbul and their removal from office on what many say are politically motivated charges.

In the same period, Turkey also saw the arrest of many Kurdish journalists, the removal from office of a number of Kurdish mayors from the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), the arrest of far-right politician Ümit Özdağ and the arrest of prominent celebrity manager Ayşe Barım on terrorism-related or other charges deemed by many as “politically motivated.”

İmamoğlu’s remarks came one day before he testifies to an İstanbul prosecutor on Friday for allegedly “attempting to influence a judicial officer, expert or witness” and “attempting to influence a fair trial” due to his statements about the expert witness.

İmamoğlu said on Thursday that he would be at the courthouse on Friday simply for having called for an independent judiciary.

“It will not be only me who will testify to a prosecutor tomorrow, but millions of people who think like me,” said the mayor while lamenting a “politically motivated operation” and “judicial harassment” against him.

The latest investigation into İmamoğlu was initiated on Monday shortly after he allegedly targeted an expert witness whom he said was being “cherry-picked” by the government for trials involving his party.

“But when the people go to the ballot box, everyone will get what they deserve,” said the mayor.

It was the second investigation initiated into the mayor this month. On January 20 another investigation was launched into İmamoğlu on accusations of targeting the city’s chief public prosecutor, who is overseeing the latest probes into the party’s prominent figures.

There are claims that Erdoğan wants to sideline İmamoğlu — the mostly likely candidate to challenge Erdoğan if he tries to seek another term as president — with investigations targeting CHP municipalities.

However, government officials insist that the courts operate independently and reject claims that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated.

The mayor had already been sentenced to more than two years in prison and barred from politics in December 2022 for allegedly insulting members of Turkey’s Supreme Election Board (YSK). The mayor faces a political ban if his conviction is upheld by an appeals court.

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