Quotes
H undreds of police officers are in front of our doors,
Ekrem Imamoglu said in a video message to his supporters on March 19th, speaking into his smartphone Ultimately, today's developments highlight that no matter the cost, Erdogan's personal agenda remains the top priority, with everything else taking a back seat,
said Wolfango Piccoli, co-president at advisory Teneo The day will come when (Erdogan's) AK Party is called to account".
Though authorities temporarily banned protests and police shut down some city streets, some hundreds of people gathered at the police station and chanted Today's dip in the markets shows investors are concerned the arrest was politically motivated,
said Hamish Kinnear, a senior analyst with Verisk Maplecroft I think it was about Erdogan nipping Imamoglu's candidacy in the bud before his formal announcement as the opposition's presidential candidate,
Soner Cagaptay, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy told AFP While the weaponisation of vague anti-terrorism allegations to detain and prosecute opponents is not new, these latest detentions ... represent an alarming intensification of the targeting of real or perceived critics,
Attempting to associate judicial investigations and cases with our President is, to say the least, an act of audacity and irresponsibility,
wrote Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç İmamoğlu's arrest is no coincidence. He is Erdoğan’s political nemesis, and his likely candidacy to run against him for the presidency has been weighing on Erdoğan’s mind,
Sinan Ciddi, nonresident senior fellow on Turkey at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital In our country, the separation of powers—legislative, executive, and judicial—is a fundamental principle. The judiciary does not take orders from anyone,
It is inappropriate to assess the initiated investigations without being fully informed about the case file, claims, and evidence,
Attacking the judiciary, threatening judicial officials, or insulting them is entirely unacceptable in a democratic state of law,
If they allow the opposition to fully participate in the elections, they will lose. They realize that,
This is of course extremely threatening to Erdogan,
Imamoglu’s arrest might increase sympathies for him and can frame him as a nationally known political hero, just as Erdogan’s arrest did for him in 1999,
Erdogan sees in Imamoglu a key challenger,
Soner Captagay, a senior fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at the DC-based Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told CNN We are up against huge bullying,
the two-time mayor said in a video filmed from his walk-in closet shortly before his arrest Our nation will give the necessary response to the lies, conspiracies, traps, lies, those who violate people’s rights, and those who steal the will of the people,
he wrote, repeating the word “lies” in his hurry No one is untouchable, unreachable, inaccessible, and unaccountable…I have full confidence in the Turkish judiciary.”
Erdoğan’s political ally, ultra nationalist leader Devlet Bahçeli, defended the actions of the authorities ... on his X account Now, he has stepped off that train and joined the ranks of the coup plotters,
I believe the people of Istanbul will give the necessary response to this injustice at the polls as a result of their belief in democracy. And God willing, the victors will be Istanbul and democracy.”
In an interview with the Associated Press at the time, Imamoglu said
