ژورنال سایت خبری سیاسی ژورنال
English Journal is published on Fridays
PDF-English Journal-31 October 2025-No36
Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul and a leading figure in the Republican People’s Party, was transferred on Sunday from Silivri Prison to Çağlayan Courthouse and, after several hours of interrogation, was this time arrested on the charge of “political espionage” and returned to prison. This comes while he had previously been detained on unfounded financial accusations.
İmamoğlu’s re-arrest is not merely a legal maneuver but a full confession by the Erdogan regime of its fragility. İmamoğlu is the only serious rival on Turkey’s political stage capable of defeating Erdogan in the 2028 elections. Eliminating him from the arena through a judicial ploy is a deliberately targeted move to forestall an imminent electoral defeat—or even a step toward ending any genuine elections and a transition to a fully naked dictatorship.
Beyond that, deploying the label of “espionage” is an old, well-worn tactic in the arsenal of political Islam. Islamists in various countries, including Iran, have always used this ploy to suppress opponents. In Iran, the accusation of “spying for Israel” has been the regime’s passcode for imprisoning and even executing political dissidents. True to this model of repression, Erdogan has turned the charge of espionage into a weapon against political rivals and social movements in Turkey. This is happening as economic crisis, unemployment, widespread poverty, and public discontent have cornered the regime politically.
İmamoğlu and the Republican People’s Party are among the few forces capable of social mobilization—and it is precisely this mobilizing power that rattles Erdogan. In recent weeks, the regime has simultaneously intensified its attacks on artists and intellectuals: from accusations of drug use to “insulting the sacred,” to the arrest of a university professor merely for criticizing on social media the halting of traffic for Erdogan’s motorcade. The judiciary has effectively become an arm of security repression.
Erdogan has neither a vision for resolving the crisis nor a base for compromise. What remains is only the iron fist. The real danger is that if the opposition—whether in the streets or as legal parties—retreats or avoids radicalism, Turkey will slide into complete collapse. Today, Turkey stands at a turning point that could spell the end of Erdoganism and become a model for combating fascism and political Islam in the region..
Editor: Patty Debonitas
For donations, please contact Keyvan Javid
WhatsApp: 00447933237052
E-mail: keyvan.javid1@gmail.com
journalfarsi.com/english/
