Jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, widely seen as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strongest challenger and his party’s presidential candidate, says he is open to endorsing an alternative opposition candidate if he is prevented from competing in the next presidential election.
“Democratic legitimacy” is at stake, İmamoğlu, of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told Bloomberg in written answers relayed through his advisers in his first interview with foreign media since his March arrest.
“I am not naïve. If I am formally barred, the democratic opposition must still come together. If the path forward requires another candidate, that person must carry forward our collective vision for justice, prosperity and peace.”
The 54-year-old, imprisoned for almost five months, is preparing for a long legal battle that could rule him out of the election. His removal from politics would have ramifications beyond Turkey, where Erdoğan, 71, maintains tight control over domestic and foreign policy, balancing ties between the United States, Russia, China and the Gulf states.
İmamoğlu has cast himself as a pro-European reformist, promising more liberal, transparent and cooperative governance. His jailing drew criticism from rights groups and democracy watchdogs, while the lira plunged, costing $50 billion in reserves to defend it, most of which the central bank later recovered.
“Some democratic governments, even those that speak loudly of human rights and the rule of law, have fallen silent when confronted with our reality,” he said. “This is not pragmatism. It is myopia, and dangerous.”
İmamoğlu, who took İstanbul from Erdoğan’s ruling party in 2019, faces multiple charges including corruption and supporting terrorism. He was convicted in July of threatening a prosecutor and while not yet banned from politics, such a ruling could follow.
He denies wrongdoing and calls the prosecutions “a transparent attempt” to block his candidacy, saying, “The regime chose to weaponize bureaucracy. The diploma issue is just one among a whole set of Kafkaesque trials.”
The dispute over his diploma erupted in March when İstanbul University annulled it, citing irregularities in his transfer to the institution three decades ago, stripping him of the qualifications required to run for president.
Erdoğan has accused the opposition of trying to “cover up their crimes by undermining our judicial institutions” through protests backing İmamoğlu.
A September 8 court ruling will determine whether the CHP’s 2023 congress, where İmamoğlu ally Özgür Özel became party leader, was valid. Özel and Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş are viewed as potential consensus candidates if İmamoğlu is barred, though Özel has said he would not run. Both have declared solidarity with him.
“To leaders in Washington, Berlin, London and elsewhere: if you want a stable Turkey that is part of the global democratic family, then you must not look away when democracy is dismantled before your eyes,” İmamoğlu said.