He was a real unknown. It was winter of 2019 and the middle -aged man, glasses, neither tall nor low, well shaved and with the classic face of a politician – smart, smiling, who seeks to please – faced a task clearly impossible: win the Turkish government party for the first time, the Justice and Development Party (AKPin Turco), which since 1994 directed the Mayor’s Office of Istanbul.
It was not going to happen, they announced all the surveys, it was something unthinkable, both for historical reasons and because the candidate of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoganwas none other than the country’s prime minister, Binali Yildirima heavyweight within the administration of Erdogan, which governs Türkiye Since 2001.
But it passed, and passed twice: Imamoglu won the Yildirim elections for a small margin, and the government, then, decided Cancel the voterepeat it a few months later. In June 2019, three months later, Imamoglu won Yildirim.
And the politician, member of the main party of the Turkish opposition, the social democrat People’s Republican Party (CHPin its acronym in Turk), it became a star.
From then on, his figure changed. Imamoglu began to be considered as the Next contender; The destined, within the opposition, to face Erdogan, a politician who has turned his long political career – which began, precisely, in 1994 in the Mayor’s Office of Istanbul – in a survival race and crushing electoral victories when nobody expects it.
Imamoglu, así, iba to be declared This Sunday, March 23 as the official candidate of the CHP in the next Presidential elections. His arrest, this Wednesday, in a police macroperation – and the subsequent wave of protests and repression throughout Turkey – leaves everything in the air.
“Imamoglu is the only politician in Türkiye that I have already won Erdogan in several municipal elections. Although his opponents, officially, were High caliber candidates Appointed by Erdogan, it was the Turkish president himself who led the electoral campaigns. His candidates repeatedly lost with a margin that Erdogan could never imagine, “explains the professor of the University of Hazetpein Ankara, Tugrul line.
“Erdogan knows perfectly that Imamoglu would beat him in some free electionseven if they were not fair. He is afraid of him because he sees himself: a charismatic leader who knows mobilize the masseswith enormous potential to capture votes. Not only like voters voters faithful to the CHP, but it is even popular among the moderate conservative and Kurdish sectors, which have a lot of weight in Turkish politics. Imamoglu is equally populist that Erdogan, only as Center Instead of Islamist and conservative, “continues the sociologist.
A Plural candidate
Imamoglu, unlike all other opposition politicians, has achieved something unique in Türkiye: he has been able to please, and receive votes – both Islamists and secular; Both Turkish nationalists and Kurds. “It is not just a figure of our party. It is a binding figure of Various parties and formations“He explains Gökhan Günaydindeputy for Istanbul and second spokesperson of the CHP in the Turkish Parliament.
Good morning se declara personal friend of the detailed mayor of the Great Turkish Metropolis. “He is a Democrat, a modern man and, above all, someone with great common sense. And it is not allowed to bend by the pressure. This I think has received it from his mother, whom I know very well, “continues the deputy, who highlights another aspect of Imamoglu: the politician is from the Black Seaone of the most conservative, nationalist and Islamist regions of Türkiye. Being from there gives credentials to a part of the population that traditionally votes for Erdogan, whose origins are also in the same area.
The similarities do not end there. Erdogan and Imamoglu have had construction businesses Before launching their political careers and both declare themselves religious and soccer at the same time. Erdogan, as a young man, was about to become a professional footballer in the Fenerbahce; Imamoglu, worse player, was part of the management team of the historical Trabzonspor.
“Imamoglu represents a charismatic leader with a powerful personal history and ideas that have managed to transcend the traditional canons of Turkish politics, “he explains Samuele Abramexpert and member of the think tank Cidobof Barcelona. “Embodies the ‘reformist wing ‘ Within the CHP, which tries to take advantage of its former nationalist exclusivist vision, to bring it closer to a more inclusive vision. His strength is that he has been able to synthesize, instead of antagonizing, secular, religious souls, progressive and conservative From the Turkish socio -political spectrum, adds Abrami.
“For me, it is very easy. Erdogan goes against Imamoglu because he loses in surveys against him. That simple. And this is not new, ”Günaydin says. It has already happened in 2019 and in 2024. It seems clear that Imamoglu could really defeat Erdogan. That is why they imprisoned him. That is why they block him. “
