Striking detail regarding İmamoğlu's degree cancellation, detention, and arrest process! 'If Erdoğan had waited...'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) President and CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu was detained in an operation conducted at his home on March 19, immediately after his degree was cancelled.

İmamoğlu, who was announced as a presidential candidate on March 23, was arrested on the same date on charges of 'corruption' and sent to prison.

The fact that the investigation process moved quickly while the judicial process proceeded slowly led to comments that 'they are accusing him of a crime first and then trying to find evidence.'

KONDA Research Chairman Aydın Erdem made assessments regarding the investigation process against İmamoğlu. Stating that the increase in İmamoğlu's inclusiveness accelerated the government, Erdem said, "The preference rate for İmamoğlu in the question of 'who should govern Turkey' was increasing. This situation was also observed among opposition and undecided voters. The government acted in a hurry to prevent İmamoğlu from becoming even stronger."

Erdem stated that the operation against İmamoğlu had low legitimacy in the eyes of the public and that the government would not have been able to take action if it had lost time. He remarked, "If Erdoğan had waited, he would not have been able to carry out this operation."

Although the arrest of İmamoğlu and the subsequent process were attempted to be supported by pro-government media, it did not find acceptance among broad segments of society. Erdem evaluated this situation with the words, "In a country where the same government has been in power for 22 years, a protest can be defined as an oppositional stance."

Aydın Erdem's statement is as follows:

"You are proving it, and on the other hand, I don't want to go without saying that the boycott is working.

It seems like some things were rushed. Because we were already seeing that Ekrem İmamoğlu's inclusiveness was increasing. There was a rapid rise in the preference rate for Ekrem İmamoğlu in the question of 'who should govern Turkey,' and it was rising across different groups.

'RUSHED IT'

It was rising not only among opposition groups but also among undecided voters. It was somewhat clear that something like this was coming. As his inclusiveness increased, they might have become unable to do this. His legitimacy is already quite low in the eyes of the public even now. If he had become even more inclusive, they would never have been able to do it. He rushed it a bit.

In other words, the fact that there was only a 24-hour gap between the degree cancellation and the arrest is a very striking situation.

Normally, when we consider Erdoğan's strategy in such situations so far, we would generally expect a certain amount of time to pass in between. But this developed very quickly.

The process that followed is also not being managed very well. Even though propaganda for it is almost being made in the pro-government media, it appears that, frankly, his own voters and the country as a whole have not really bought into it. Generally, in a country where the same government has been in power for 22 years, you can describe what you call a protest as an oppositional stance.

But what you call a boycott is, in the end..."

News Source: 12punto