Robert Ellis
(Turkey analyst and commentator and an international advisor at the Research Institute for European and American Studies in Athens)
Copyright: @ 2025 Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 19 July 2025
Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies
The intention of Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan must be apparent. The process that began on March 19 with the detention and later arrest of Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoǧlu has developed into a full-scale war with the intent of dismantling Turkey’s secular opposition, the CHP (Republican People’s Party), founded by Atatürk.
Imamoǧlu was prevented from running in the 2023 presidential elections because he remarked that those who cancelled the 2019 mayoral elections in Istanbul were fools. However, in a re-run Imamoǧlu trounced the AKP opposition and again in the 2024 mayoral elections.... Read more