Ekrem Imamoglu, Turkish President Erdogan’s competitor, faces a new criminal charge

On Friday, Turkish prosecutors accused the mayor of Istanbul, Emamoglu, of forgery of his university diploma, a new case threatening other years in prison for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose rival was already imprisoned for suspended charges awaiting him.

IMamoglu, in the center of a sprawling legal campaign, has been imprisoned for the main opposition party, since March 23, awaiting trial. The 54 -year -old denies these allegations against him, whose party says he was organized to protect Erdogan in power.

He was reported to be accused of his diploma by the Melit newspaper, which said that the prosecutors were looking for eight years and nine months of prison for the new charges. Reuters couldn’t get the document immediately.

On March 18, Istanbul University said it had canceled the diploma of Imamoglu. He was detained a day after corruption charges, which led to the largest protests in Türkiye in a decade, and later imprisoned him awaiting trial.

The opposition CHP (CHP) was arrested within days to nominate the mayor for a long time, its official presidential rival to Erdogan, who managed Turkey for more than two decades after he became the Prime Minister in 2004.

Campaign against the opposition

The following elections were determined for the year 2028, but Erdogan reached a period of time as president, after the amendment of the constitution in 2018.

The 72 -year -old It seeks once again to amend the constitutionBut he denied that it was a step aimed at keeping him in power.

Erdogan faced his worst election defeat last year when IMamoglu swept the main cities in Türkiye and defeated the ruling AK party in previous strongholds in the municipal elections at the country level.

Imamoglu was born in 1971 in Trabzon Black SEA province, he studied business administration at Istanbul University before entering the construction work of his family.

Imamoglu joined CHP in 2008 and became the mayor of Beylikduzu in Istanbul in 2014.

He won the city elections in 2019. The court canceled his first victory, only to win the restart elections with a wider margin.

He was re -elected the mayor of Istanbul in March 2024. This happened despite a previous legal battle, when he was sentenced in 2022 to two and a half years in prison for insulting public employees, although the Court of Appeal has not yet been sentenced to the case.

Another case last year accused him of encouraging giving. His supporters view these accusations as political motivated attempts to design it, which is the demand of Erdogan and AKP.

Another investigation is still accusing imamoglu and six others of the help of the banned Labor Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by Türkiye and its Western allies.

Imamoglu problems are part of a period for months on the opposition. Early last month, Three mayors of CHP were suspended in Istanbul regions By federal authorities.

While initially focused on Istanbul, the Turkish authorities detained 109 people, including opposition members and a former mayor, in Isimir.