ERDOĞAN TARGETS ISTANBUL MAYOR

This is an article written by Tarschun. O who is an analyst. This article will focus on the Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.

“Order is only a virtue of the strong”, a phrase that once defined Turkey’s climb, now echoes through the uprising of March 19, 2025. This isn’t a sudden crash but clearly resonates with neighboring countries’ approaches to peaceful protesting, as well as student and now Turkish calls. What began as a slow national fracture has become an irreversible turning point between yesterday’s pride and tomorrow’s uncertainty.

The unrest started in October 2024 when Erdoğan’s government ejected two CHP mayors and five from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party (the opposition party), labeling them as orchestrators of “terrorist” acts, while inflation had already hit a harsh 54% in 2023. Then, on January 21, a fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in Kartalkaya claimed 76 lives, an open wound of corruption that students in Istanbul turned into a symbol of resistance, similar to the Novi Sad Tragedy.

By February, the CHP, under Özgür Özel and lifted by Ekrem İmamoğlu’s (who is Istanbul Mayor)rising voice, successfully pushed back. Sensing a threat, Erdoğan took action by jailing far-right figure Ümit Özdağ on March 12 for “insulting” him. By March, 150,000 people were in the streets protesting peacefully, only to be met by police blasting sonic heat devices, an example of how a NATO member has chosen to handle its people’s right to demand change. When that wasn’t enough, he ordered Istanbul University to strip İmamoğlu of his degree, a calculated attack on his CHP presidential bid set for March 23 (to run for president in Turkey, a university degree is required under Article 101 of the Constitution). When that decision was appealed, Erdoğan’s regime escalated further, arresting İmamoğlu and over 100 others on his orders, while six DEM mayors were ousted and replaced by his loyalists.

Also, the regime moved to limit social media access, banning platforms such as Discord on October 9 for refusing to provide sensitive user information and restricting access to X, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, all of which went dark.

For a nation eyed as a candidate for EU membership, this is no simple power grab, it is Erdoğan and his loyalists wrestling with Turkey’s very soul, its people. Özgür Özel, CHP’s fierce leader since 2023, calls it “a coup against our next president” as he rallies his party for the March 23 vote. The EU’s Ursula von der Leyen has called the situation “deeply concerning,” while Germany’s Annalena Baerbock warns that “opposition space is shrinking fast.”

After 22 years, Erdoğan’s iron rule faces its toughest test. The West’s blueprint of order is colliding head-on with a people’s demand for justice, echoing struggles in neighboring countries like Serbia and Romania. Will this lead to an even tighter grip on power or a crack that ushers in a new dawn? Turkey’s fate, whether it will end in stability or chaos, will not only shake its borders but send ripples across an already tense region.