The recent wave of arrests targeting opposition politicians in Turkey marks a deeply concerning development for democratic governance in the country. On Saturday, Turkish authorities detained five mayors and issued arrest warrants for dozens more, intensifying a crackdown centered around Istanbul’s popular opposition mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu.
His imprisonment in March sent political shockwaves across the nation. Security forces raided several municipal offices in Istanbul, detaining three district mayors and a former lawmaker from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the main opposition force.
Two additional mayors in Adana were also taken into custody, bringing the total number of those detained to at least 30, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has ruled Turkey for over two decades, accused Istanbul’s municipality of operating as a “criminal organization,” justifying the arrests as part of a broader anti-corruption and counter-terrorism effort. However, İmamoğlu has rejected these allegations, labelling them as politically motivated and asserting that Erdoğan is weaponising the judiciary to suppress legitimate political opposition.
The arrest of İmamoğlu, widely viewed as a serious contender for the presidency, sparked Turkey’s largest antigovernmental protests in over a decade. His popularity has surged significantly, with recent opinion polls indicating he could defeat Erdoğan in a direct electoral challenge, an outcome that may have prompted the escalating crackdown. This political turbulence has led to significant economic repercussions.
Investor confidence has plummeted, forcing the Turkish Central Bank to deplete an estimated $50 billion in reserves to stabilize the lira, which remains under pressure. Concurrently, the country’s stock market has declined by 17% since İmamoğlu’s imprisonment, highlighting investor concerns over increasing authoritarianism and economic mismanagement.
To tackle inflation, currently running at an annual rate of 38%, the Central Bank raised interest rates to an extraordinary 46%, reflecting the urgency of Turkey’s economic challenges. Nevertheless, the economy only expanded by 2% in the first quarter of 2025, below expectations and worrying for Erdoğan’s government. International reaction to the crackdown has been mostly subdued.
However, Nacho Sánchez Amor, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Turkey, visited İmamoğlu in prison and called for his release, urging Ankara to uphold the rule of law. Meanwhile, the CHP has announced that party chairman Özgür Özel has convened an emergency meeting with Istanbul’s lawmakers and local leaders to strategize a response to the escalating arrests, which have seen hundreds of municipal officials jailed. While Ankara insists that the arrests are lawful and apolitical, critics view them as a troubling sign of democratic erosion.
As Turkey’s political and economic stability wavers, the global community must consider the cost of silence against the imperative to defend democratic norms and human rights in one of NATO’s most geopolitically critical members.
