The story
Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul, has been jailed on corruption charges.
Since then, there have been days of protests, leading to violent clashes between protestors and the authorities.
Imamoglu is seen as the main political rival to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been either prime minister of president since 2003.
Since being jailed, the main opposition party in the country declared Imamoglu their candidate for the 2028 presidential election.
His university degree had recently been annulled – cancelled – which means he is not allowed to stand for election.
News headlines
Sixth night of protests in Turkey as Erdogan hits out at unrest
BBC
Erdogan Bets World Will Turn a Blind Eye to Turmoil in Turkey
Bloomberg
Turkey’s Authoritarian Turn
Jacobin
Key words and phrases
hits out at
strongly criticises
- Businesses hit out at the government’s plans to increase corporate taxes.
turn a blind eye
ignore something bad
- I’ve been turning a blind eye to your lateness for far too long… You need to start arriving on time!
authoritarian turn
a movement towards authoritarian government
- The trend towards strong national leaders is evidence of a growing authoritarian turn across the world.