Böll.Global | Turkey after the arrest of İmamoğlu: Between autocratization, protest and international power

On March 19, the mayor of Istanbul and leading figure of the Turkish opposition party CHP, Ekrem İmamoğlu, was arrested on charges of corruption and terrorism. The day before, İmamoğlu's university degree, a prerequisite for the office of president in Turkey, had already been annulled. The impression is that the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants to neutralize a key challenger in the run-up to the 2028 presidential elections and pave the way for another term in office. 

Since then, Turkey and the city of Istanbul in particular have seen the largest demonstrations since the Gezi protests. The collective anger of a broad, heterogeneous coalition of protesters and young people in particular is not only directed against the current wave of repression, but also against a widespread sense of hopelessness after years of inflation, economic crisis and the gradual erosion of democracy.

The AKP government has denounced the protests as “street terror” and is increasingly responding with repression. In so doing, it appears to count on a largely compliant and centralized state apparatus as well as an international environment, in which Turkey plays a key role from Syria to European defence after the Trump shock. Nevertheless, this further step towards Turkey's autocratization may have been one step too many. The opposition, which had been divided for years, appears unified in the face of repression while the open authoritarianism threatens the governments credibility abroad. The role of the EU remains unclear. Given the experiences of recent years, it is doubtful that the growing criticism from Germany and the EU will have influence on the Turkish government. It remains to be seen whether the EU can unite behind further measures to build up effective pressure.

Together with our panelists from politics, academia and civil society, we discuss various questions, including: 

• Why did the AKP government choose this moment to crack down on the opposition?
• Is this a critical juncture for democracy in Turkey? 
• What is the foreign policy context of the Erdogan government's actions?
• How does domestic repression in Turkey affect its role in the changing European and transatlantic security architecture?
• Which possibilities of influence remain for Germany and the European Union?

With:

• Meltem Aslan, Director at Hakikat Adalet Hafıza Merkezi
• Dawid Bartelt, Director, Istanbul office, Heinrich Böll Foundation
• Burak Copur, Political scientist, Turkey expert and professor at the IU International University in Essen
• Deborah Düring, Member of Parliament (reelected 2025) and Foreign Policy Speaker of the Green Party Faction in the 20th German Bundestag (2021-2025)

Moderation: Jan Philipp Albrecht, President of the Heinrich Böll Foundation

contact: 
Louisa Reeh
E reeh@boell.de

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