ISTANBUL – Political efforts to cripple Turkey’s main opposition and lock up its presidential candidate will never stifle the people’s frustration with the government and their growing demand for change, Istanbul’s jailed mayor told AFP in an interview.
“An irreversible process for a change in power has begun in Turkey and it won’t stop until it is complete. I cannot stop it … nor can the ruling party nor the judiciary,” Ekrem Imamoglu said in a written response to AFP questions conveyed via lawyers from his prison cell in Silivri, west of Istanbul.
“Whatever is done to my party or me, we won’t abandon this path (to democracy) we’re walking on with the nation,” said the 54-year-old.
His remarks came just days before his trial on Monday in a massive corruption case that critics say is designed to block him from challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the next election.
His arrest nearly a year ago sparked some of Turkey’s biggest street protests in over a decade and was followed by mounting legal pressure on the main opposition CHP, the party he was chosen to represent in the next presidential race.
To date, 15 CHP mayors are behind bars.
Imamoglu said support for the opposition had been growing in a sign of public demand for change and growing fatigue with Erdogan’s rule — a sentiment which the government will struggle to contain.
“The ruling power must have thought that the nation’s demand for change was a show of personal support for me, and that once they eliminated me, no obstacle would remain, so they took me hostage, but what happened?” he asked.
“The nation’s demand for change continues to grow day-by-day, getting stronger.”
Imamoglu was jailed on the day he was named the CHP’s presidential candidate. He is widely seen as one of the only politicians capable of defeating Erdogan at the ballot box.
Although the mayor is facing a slew of legal cases, Monday’s is by far the biggest, in which he is accused of a string of charges, notably running a criminal network.
