Ekrem İmamoğlu’s letter to NY Times: “Erdogan Regime Trying to Eliminate Me Through Law”

In a letter to The New York Times from prison, Ekrem Imamoglu said that the Erdogan regime was trying to eliminate him through the law because it could not defeat him through elections. “This is not just the erosion of democracy, it is the deliberate dismantling of the republic,” Imamoglu said, adding that Turkey has turned into a ”republic of fear.”

  Ekrem İmamoğlu, the elected mayor of Istanbul and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's main political rival, wrote a letter to the US-based media outlet The New York Times from his prison cell. Imamoglu's letter to The New York Times is as follows: Early on the morning of March 19, dozens of armed police officers arrived at my door with a detention order. The scene resembled the arrest of a terrorist, not the elected mayor of Istanbul, Turkey's largest city. This move came just four days before my party, the Republican People's Party, was to hold a primary election to determine its candidate for the next presidential election. Those moments were dramatic but not surprising. This raid followed months of legal harassment. This culminated in the sudden revocation of my university diploma 31 years after my graduation. The authorities may have thought this would put me out of the race. Because the constitution requires the president to have a higher education diploma. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has realized that he cannot defeat me at the ballot box, so he is trying other ways. I have been indicted for corruption, bribery, leading a criminal organization and aiding the PKK, but there is no credible evidence for the charges. I was removed from my elected office because of the financial charges. Erdoğan's administration has long been systematically eroding democratic checks and balances. The media has been silenced, trustees have been appointed to replace elected mayors, the legislature has been neutralized, the judiciary controlled, and elections manipulated. The widespread arrests of protesters and journalists in recent months send a blood-curdling message: No one is safe. Votes can be invalidated, freedoms can be taken away in an instant. Under Erdoğan, the republic has become a republic of fear. This is not just a slow erosion of democracy. It is a deliberate dismantling of the institutional foundations of our republic. My arrest marks a new stage in Turkey's transition to authoritarianism based on the arbitrary use of force. Our country, with its long democratic tradition, risks approaching a point of no return. The repression was not only directed against me. In a large-scale operation based on an indictment based solely on secret witness testimony, around 100 people, including senior municipal executives and business people, were detained. These detentions were preceded by disinformation and smear campaigns in pro-government media. But the people of Turkey did not succumb. Despite a ban on protests and barricades at the entrances to cities, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets from Istanbul to Rize, Erdogan's stronghold. Immediately after the detention and in the days that followed, people of all ages and walks of life joined our party. In front of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality building, people kept vigil despite increasingly harsh measures and arrests. Despite the repression, the Republican People's Party successfully held its presidential primary election on Sunday. According to party data, a total of 15 million people, including 1.7 million registered members, supported me as a presidential candidate. Since I was elected mayor in 2019, nearly 100 investigations and dozens of lawsuits have been filed against me. All of these accusations, ranging from the untrue to the preposterous, were part of an effort to wear me down, remove me from elected office and prevent me from challenging Erdoğan. I have run against candidates supported by Erdoğan three times before. We faced each other in two local elections in 2019 and once again last year. Erdoğan personally campaigned against me each time. Each time I won. Now, a government that cannot cope with elections is trying to eliminate me by using its control over the judiciary. The latest polls show that I could win if the elections were held today. So why have so many people taken to the streets for the biggest demonstrations since the Gezi Park protests in 2013? Public anger over growing injustice and a deteriorating economy has reached a tipping point. People are now speaking out and uniting around a candidate who promises inclusion, justice and a better future. They refuse to be silenced. They have also realized that my arrest is a move that brings Turkey closer to authoritarianism. Solidarity continues despite the repression. Social democratic leaders and mayors in Turkey and around the world, from Amsterdam to Zagreb, have supported my arrest with courage and principle. Civil society has not backed down either. But I cannot say the same for central governments around the world. Their silence is deafening. Washington has only expressed “concern about the recent arrests and protests”. Most European leaders have refrained from a strong response. What is happening today in Turkey and in many other parts of the world shows that democracy, the rule of law and fundamental freedoms cannot survive in silence. They cannot be sacrificed to diplomatic convenience in the name of “political realism”. Recent developments - Russia's war in Ukraine, the overthrow of the Assad regime in neighboring Syria and the devastation in Gaza - have increased Turkey's strategic importance. Turkey's contribution to European security cannot be ignored. But geopolitical calculations should not lead us to ignore the erosion of values. Otherwise, we would be legitimizing those who are dismantling the global rules-based order piece by piece. The survival of democracy in Turkey is vital not only for the people of this country but also for the future of democracy worldwide. In an age of unchecked strongmen, those who believe in democracy must be as determined, strong and vocal as they are. The fate of democracy depends on the courage of students, workers, citizens, trade unions and elected representatives who do not remain silent as institutions collapse. I trust the people of Turkey and people around the world to fight for justice and democracy.