Roving Periscope: Turkiye’s Imamoglu condemns the West for turning Nelson’s Eye
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The US-led West, which was patting itself after ‘managing’ raging fires in Ukraine and Gaza, has suddenly found itself amid a fireball: Turkiye, a NATO ally, is waiting to become a member of the European Union as well.
Within 10 days, Turkiye has emerged as a new flashpoint in the Middle East with its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accused of being an ‘elected Islamist dictator’, facing the biggest challenge in his long political career. Erdogan, a former Prime Minister, may have found his nemesis in the same city and office. His challenger, Ekrem Imamoglu, is currently the Mayor, an office Erdon emerged from two decades ago to take control of Turkiye…
The West is clearly clueless about how to react to the fresh developments in Turkiye, which, they had reassured themselves, would be business as usual as the next presidential elections will be due only in 2028—and Erdogan would, somehow, continue to remain President even beyond his two constitutional terms ending by then.
But Imamoglu has emerged as the rising sun in CHP, the party founded by the Father of the Turks, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a century ago to modernize Turkey (now Turkiye). He was recently nominated to take on Erdogon in the next presidential election, which has upset many an applecart.
Even the Arab world—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, etc—is happy but silent on the discomfiture of Erdogan. All they want is this neo-Ottoman Sultan’s exit but also ensure that the Ankara fires do not reach their Arab capitals.
Meanwhile, Imamoglu, whose March 19 detention on fictitious allegations of terror-support and corruption triggered mass protests and a market selloff, criticized the western leaders for their muted response to his arrest.
In an article, carried by The New York Times on Friday morning, Imamoglu, President Erdogan’s main political rival, accused the US and Europe of prioritising geopolitical interests over democratic values, the media reported.
“Their silence is deafening,” he 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 Turkiye’s democracy.
US President Donald Trump, for his part, called Erdogan a “good leader” this week.
Imamoglu said the lack of international condemnation of Erdogan is helping ensure Turkiye’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.”
Police detained Imamoglu on March 19 and he was later formally arrested on corruption charges, which he denies. Erdogan’s administration claimed 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’s intervention to stem the Turkish currency lira’s drop totaled around USD 27 billion, 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.
Even the UK government did not comment on the deportation of a BBC journalist on Thursday.
Since Imamoglu’s arrest, Turkish authorities have banned protests, 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.
