Turkey's jailed mayor Ekrem Imamoglu criticises West for 'silence'

By Ugur Yilmaz

 

Ekrem Imamoglu, the Turkish opposition figure whose detention this month triggered mass protests and a market selloff, criticized Western leaders for their muted response to his arrest.

 

In a piece published in The New York Times on Friday morning, Imamoglu, who is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, accused the US and Europe of prioritising geopolitical interests over democratic values.

 

“Their silence is deafening,” Imamoglu wrote of world governments. “Washington merely expressed ‘concerns regarding recent arrests and protests’ in Turkey. With few exceptions, European leaders have failed to offer a strong response.” 

 

Erdogan, who has led the country of 85 million people for more than two decades, has positioned himself as a key power broker from Ukraine to the Middle East and Africa.

 

As commander of Nato’s second-biggest army and at a time Europe is fretting about the US potentially reducing its footprint on the continent, Erdogan doubts leaders in places such as France and Germany want a dispute over Turkey’s democracy. US President Donald Trump, for his part, called Erdogan a “good leader” this week.

 

Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, said the lack of international condemnation of Erdogan is helping ensure Turkey’s shift toward authoritarianism.

 

“Democracy, the rule of law, and fundamental freedoms cannot survive in silence, nor be sacrificed for diplomatic convenience disguised as ‘realpolitik,’” he said. “A country with a long democratic tradition now faces the serious risk of passing the point of no return.”

 

Turkish police detained Imamoglu on March 19 and he was later formally arrested on corruption charges, which he denies. Erdogan’s administration says the courts are independent and don’t act on instructions from the presidency.

 

Imamoglu’s detention led to hundreds of thousands of Turks taking to the streets and a plunge in the country’s stocks and bonds. The central bank intervention’s to stem the lira’s drop totaled around $27 billion, according to calculations by Bloomberg Economics, significantly reducing Turkey’s foreign-exchange reserves.

 

Germany’s outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last week that Imamoglu’s detention was “depressing,” but other European leaders have largely refrained from issuing similar statements. The UK government hasn’t commented on the deportation of a BBC journalist on Thursday.

 

Since Imamoglu’s arrest, Turkish authorities have detained nearly 1,900 people, including students and activists, and have cracked down on media coverage. Local news channels, online broadcasters, and YouTubers are the target of penalties and investigations. Imamoglu’s lawyer was also detained, state-run Anadolu reported on Friday.