Is the land of Islamic Politics of Erdogan slipping? Why are the Ottoman President so afraid of Imamoglu – Ekrem Imamoglu Arrest in Turkey Has CaudesPread Protest in Turkey Why President Erdogan is Afraid of his popularity ntcprk

Millions of protesters are on the streets to protest against the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu, the opponent of President Rechpe Tayyip Erdogan, in almost all cities of the country, including Turkish capital Ankara. There are reports of frequent clashes between police and protesters who came on the road to stop the protests. The police are staining rubber bullets, tear gases shells and chilli gas shells against the protesters. Hundreds of protesters have also been arrested.

More than 55 provinces of Türkiye are being protested. Protests against Erdogan government on such a large scale have not been seen in more than a decade.

Looking at the prevalence of protests, it can be understood how popular Imamoglu is in Türkiye. Erdogan sees Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Ekrem Imamoglu as a big challenge. He won the Istanbul Mayor election last year by defeating Erdogan candidate. As the Mayor of Istanbul, Imamoglu has become more popular among the people and now the party wanted to make him the presidential candidate.

The party was scheduled to meet on 23 March where Ekrem was to be officially declared the party’s presidential candidate against Erdogan. But before this, he has been put in jail on charges of corruption and terrorism.

Erdogan, who has been in power for more than two decades

Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Erdogan has been in power in Turkey since 2003. Earlier in 1994, he became the mayor of Istanbul and held the post till 1998. Erdogan with conservative Islamic image became increasingly popular in Türkiye and became Prime Minister in 2003. He was elected President of Türkiye in 2014 and has been holding the presidency since then.

The Constitution of Türkiye is no longer allowing Erdogan to contest the presidential election again but he wants to contest again in the presidential election to be held in 2028. If Erdogan has to join the election, then either they will have to amend the Constitution, which is a very difficult process or will have to hold elections ahead of time.

And first of all it was necessary for Erdogan to crush his opponents, which he started with the arrest of Imamoglu.

Gonul Tol, director of the Turkish Program at the US -based Think Tank Middle East Institute, wrote in the American magazine ‘Foreign Affairs’,’ Ekrem Imamoglu has been arrested and sent to jail, which has effectively out of the President’s race. This is a shameless act of political repression, which is another step towards complete autocracy of the Turkish government.

Gonul Tole wrote that the plan to get Imamoglu out of the game was well thought out and made. On Tuesday, Alma Mater, Istanbul University of Imamoglu canceled her diploma, citing alleged violation of the rules of the Board of Education. According to the law, Turkish presidential candidates should have a university degree.

The next day, Imamoglu was arrested on charges of corruption and terrorism. The court’s verdict has not only excluded Imamoglu from the race for the presidency but has also removed him from the post of Mayor of Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey.

Why is Erdogan so scared about Imamoglu?

Ahmat T. Kuru, director and professor of political science at the Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies at Sen Diago State University, writes in the ‘The Conversation’ that cancellation of Imamoglu’s diploma degree and arrest him on charges of corruption shows that Erdogan is very worried that Imamoglu has become a serious threat to his 22 -year rule.

He writes, ‘Imamoglu is the biggest obstacle in the way of becoming President once again, which has become more popular than the President who has been in power for a long time. Efforts are being made to grab power in Türkiye and expand the tenure so that the country can turn into an elected dictatorship like Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

It is believed that Erdogan can take steps in this direction soon. In 2017, he did the same when he converted Turkey from the parliamentary system to the Presidential Republic through a referendum. In this amendment of this time, he can also change many things to eliminate the range of tenure as well as to make victory easier in the third term.

Gonul Tul also says that the increasing popularity of Imamoglu intimidated Erdogan and hence Imamoglu is also in jail like other opponents. He writes, ‘What happened in recent times will stop the path of Imamoglu moving forward. Imamoglu has been disqualified to contest elections for the presidency by the cancellation of his diploma, and the allegations of terrorism have removed him from the post of mayor.

He further writes, ‘Erdogan does not just want to protect his presidency, he also wants to regain Istanbul. Losing the city to the opposition in 2019 was not only a political shock, but also a financial shock. With this, Erdogan got away from the huge resources of Istanbul, which strengthened him for decades. Referring to Istanbul can help in keeping their political machine running in the time of financial difficulty. Now he has removed the mayor, which has given him a chance to appoint the Governor of Istanbul in place of Imamoglu.

Popularity decreased, yet Erdogan has won the presidential election

During the Turkish presidential election in 2023, it was believed that he could lose the election amidst Erdogan’s declining popularity. In Türkiye struggling with inflation, questions were being questioned on Erdogan’s economic policies. Erdogan had put pressure on central banks not to increase interest during that time, which increased inflation in the country.

In February 2023 itself, Turkey had two disastrous storms in which thousands of people died and residents and rest of the infrastructure became frozen in more than 10 states. Erdogan was very criticized for delay and disorder in relief and rescue operations.

In view of the displeasure of the people towards Erdogan, analysts then said that Erdogan would have to pay its price at the time of elections. Many analysts said that this time Erdogan’s defeat is confirmed. CHP leader Kamal Kalchdarlu was in the fray against him but Erdogan won in the election results and got 52.16% votes.

His anti -West policy and Islamist image was told behind Erdogan’s victory. All the Turkish leaders before Erdogan were considered to be the hanger of Western countries. Its impact was also seen on Türkiye’s foreign policy, which was not liked by the people of Türkiye.

Kamal Kalchdarlu is also known for a soft attitude from Western countries and during the election campaign he said that if he comes to power, he will revive Turkey’s relations with Neto (NATO, Turkish, America and Defense Organization of European countries) partners.

On the contrary, Erdogan, despite being a member of Neto, prevented Turkey from becoming a hanger of the West. Türkiye became a member of Neta in 1952 and since then it had a very good relationship with Western countries. But Erdogan started making changes in his foreign policy only after coming to power and by 2015, his foreign policy became anti-Western.

West opposition to Erdogan is a gift of his Islamic policies in which he accuses countries of France, Sweden, Denmark of being anti -Islam.

Erdogan considers himself to be the leader of Muslims around the world and when France took action on Muslim fundamentalists, he expressed great anger over him. For this reason, in 2020, the relationship between France and Türkiye became very bad. Erdogan also opposed the alleged insult of Islam in Sweden and burning copies of the Quran. Angered by the alleged insult of the Quran, Erdogan prevented Sweden from becoming a member of Neto for years.

The penetration of Erdogan between secular Turkish and Muslims

Turkish established in 1920 is a secular country where the population of Muslims is 99% according to the government. Such a large Muslim population has been greatly influenced by the Islamist policies of Erdogan. Their thoughts about women are quite conservative. They say that the woman should become an ideal wife and mother. Erdogan says that women and men cannot be treated uniformly in society. This is very much liked by conservative Muslims.

In the last election, Kalchdarlu challenged Erdogan’s Islamist policy and said that if he comes to power, Turkish Islamist policy will be followed not on liberal policy. People did not like this matter of him and people rejected him. But Ekrem Imamoglu has been recognized by Erdogan’s political foundation and he is using Islam to compete with them.

What is the land of Islamist politics of Erdogan slipping?

Ekrem is also two steps ahead of Imamoglu Erdogan. They are popular among secular voters, they are also attracting conservative Muslims. He publicly reads the verses of the Quran, talks about Islam in his speeches, due to which the conservative voters are also seen in his favor.

Ahmat T. Kuru writes that his ability had helped to defeat Erdogan’s party twice in the Istanbul Mayor election in 2019. The first defeat was rejected by Erdogan after which the election was canceled by the Supreme Election Council.

In 2024, Imamoglu was again elected mayor of Istanbul to be considered a leader who could defeat Erdogan in the election. Kuru writes that Imamoglu’s popularity is not enough to become his President, but recent events show that many screws will be implicated to keep him away from elections.