Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main competitor from the Turkish police detained

Switch off the editor’s digest free of charge

Roula Khalaf, editor of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The Turkish police have imprisoned Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who shortly was expected as the main opposition challenger by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Imamoglu‘The detention on Wednesday was part of an investigation of the alleged terrorist connections, which in his re-election of 2024 received as mayor of a pro-Kurdish political group, said the Anadolu state news agency.

He faces a flood of criminal probes, mainly because of his political speeches, and has accused the government of using the judiciary to maintain power.

“Hundreds of police are at my door,” said İmamoğlu in a voice message shared by his office. “This immoral and tyrannical approach is undoubtedly lifted by the will and the resilience of our people.”

Imamoglu is one of turkeyThe most popular political personalities and mayors of the city of 16 million people since 2019.

Opinion surveys show him before Erdoğan in a potential competition for the country’s top office.

His Republican People’s Party will hold a primary school on Sunday to name her presidential candidate, and İmamoğlu was the only candidate.

The elections are planned for 2028, but the party said that the naming of their candidate should now force parliament to call an SnAP survey.

The detention of İmamoğlu comes one day after the state -owned Istanbul university Canceled his university degreeWhat would prevent him from entering the presidential race if he was not entered into appeal.

It increases the government’s approach to the opposition in the past few months, which included the arrests of several mayors, journalists, business people and academics.

This is a developing story