The arrest of Istanbul’s Mayor and the opposition’s leading contender for the 2028 elections, Ekrem İmamoğlu, marks a new threshold in Turkey’s descent into full autocracy.
Although the country formally transitioned to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s one-man regime in 2017 that entirely abolished the separation of powers and rendered parliament functionally irrelevant, elections have remained to be held within a legal framework that preserved a veneer of legitimacy.
Now, with İmamoğlu –widely regarded as Erdoğan’s strongest potential challenger in 2028– being eliminated through judicial means, Turkey has entered a new phase in which elections will be little more than a ritualistic performance. In this sense, the country has now joined the ranks of Belarus, Russia, and Venezuela.
