The detention of Ekrem İmamoğlu, Istanbul's mayor and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's most formidable rival, on March 19th sparked the largest demonstrations in Turkey in years. Last Saturday, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets, expressing their discontent with the government and demanding the release of the city's imprisoned mayor, who is the Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate for the 2028 Turkish presidential election. According to Reuters, nearly 1,900 people have been arrested.

İmamoğlu’s jailing marks another significant moment in Turkey’s shift toward authoritarianism—an ongoing process that arguably began in 2010 with a constitutional referendum that granted President Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its allies control over the judiciary. In recent years, hundreds of activists, journalists, politicians, and municipal officials have been imprisoned. Shahram Aghamir spoke with UC Berkeley sociologist Cihan Tugal and started by asking him how this consolidation power took place in Turkey.

Jacobin: The Unlikely Resistance in Turkey