For context, read these threads: "Living Under Totalitarianism Sucks" (1), "New Developments in Turkish politics" (2)

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Ekrem Imamoglu used Özgür Özel to send away Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and his board of advisors, and has since then become the shadow chairman of the CHP. Even though it was an important step on the path of destroying the elaborate mechanism of control Erdogan had built around Turkey's opposition, it wasn't enough to completely remove all the infiltrators from the party. That can only be done if Imamoglu wins Istanbul one more time and strengthens his authority over the party. If he pulls it off, he'll show the whole nation that he is, without a shadow of a doubt, the only person in Turkey who can defeat Erdogan in a democratic race, which even has the potential to trigger a new election cycle in an earlier date than 2028. That is precisely why they're trying to make him lose.

Unfortunately, they are not the only nominal opposition group that's conciously conspiring against real dissenters. There is also the IYI Party. By now, it's almost universally accepted that the IYIP was created for one purpose only, to hinder the opposition. And right now, as Meral Akşener herself said it at a recent party meeting, "they're playing their final part in the game that their government requested them to be a part of." She's on a campaign to smear Imamoglu's image, and is preparing to put forth a mayoral candidate for Istanbul. Journalists and commentators say that the IYIP voter base actually has a backbone and they would not keep voting for the IYIP when the surest way to prevent Erdogan from gaining the control of Istanbul is to vote for Imamoglu. We'll see if that's true.

On the other hand, I wanna quickly touch on the current state of the HDP). Their situation is the most ambigous to me, because they used to be a legitimate force of opposition that really was challenging the status quo, until Selahattin Demirtas got locked up. Since then, they've been turning more and more into a puppet of the state. And I'm pretty sure that is the reason why he's in jail. He was a charismatic leader who could motivate his constituency to do things that are not expected of them. In the second round of the elections in 2019, Erdogan forced Abdullah Öcalan to call on the Kurdish citizens to vote for his candidate, but they went and voted for Imamoglu, because Demirtas asked them to use their one vote in favor of "democracy and freedom." So his words matter more to Kurds than one of the founding members of the PKK. He was also steering the party away from the line of the PKK, which could have done a lot for the HDP in the long run. But now he's in the slammer and the HDP is doing nothing to help him. They, too, are planning to have their own mayoral candidate for Istanbul.

But despair not, 'cause it's not the case that nothing positive is happening. Erdogan's having a slow yet steady falling out with his biggest ally Devlet Bahceli. His party, The MHP, controls the entirety of the court of cassation and a large section of the police force, but Bahceli is a greedy cunt. He wants more. He wants the Constitutional Court for himself too, which is entirely at the hands of Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan refuses to give up on the Constitutional Court and is pushing back. Bahceli uses his connections with mafia and other paramilitary organizations to intimidate Erdogan. In response to this Erdogan gets his minister of domestic affairs to crack down on criminal gangs related to the MHP. There's a silent war between them. Erdogan will probably try to get rid of the MHP and Bahceli after the elections, which will certainly weaken his power. If that happens in the aftermath of a big victory by Ekrem Imamoglu, then... ( ๑ ˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و ♡

Anyhow, this is the climate in which Turkey is heading for local elections. I hope any of this made sense to you and gave you an understanding of my country's current shenanigans. The election will be held on March 31st, 2024. I will definitely share the results with you. Until then, you can ask me anything in the comments or in DMs. Öptüm.