What makes the current protests in Türkiye unique?

Last week, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu – who has twice defeated the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in local elections – was arrested on the day he was expected to announce his candidacy in the 2028 presidential race.

The charges against him, including bribery and abuse of office, have been denounced as politically motivated.

İmamoğlu is widely seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s most credible challenger, and opposition leaders argue that his sudden arrest is no coincidence.

Read more about the detention of an opposition mayor spark record-breaking protests in Türkiye in the column by Şebnem Kalemli-Özcan, Schreiber Family Professor of Economics at Brown University and the Director of the Global Linkages Lab – Türkiye resists: why İmamoğlu’s arrest sparked massive protests.

The author emphasises that for many of the millions who have joined the demonstrations, this is no longer about one man or one court decision.

While the massive protests in Istanbul in 2013 were centered around the protection of Gezi Park from being turned into a shopping mall, the main issue of today’s protests is the economy, Kalemli-Özcan points out.

She recalls that in 2013, Türkiye was still considered an economic success story. However, this year, economic growth has slowed, and inflation remains in double digits.

"While some of the foreign capital that was lost through many years of economic mismanagement began to trickle back last year, İmamoğlu’s arrest has shattered investor confidence again. The lira has plunged, and Türkiye’s risk premium has spiked," the director of the Global Linkages Lab states.

Like in 2013, the deeper message of the ongoing protests is clear: economic performance is inseparable from institutional health.

Şebnem warns that you can have competent technocrats at the central bank and finance ministry, but if the judiciary is politicized, the media muzzled, and academic institutions under siege, those "adults in the room" are not enough.

"İmamoğlu’s imprisonment may be the last straw for Turks who understand this link between institutions and economic stability," the author suggests.

For many Turks, as the expert writes, İmamoğlu is a national symbol of political pluralism and democratic possibility. His sweeping victories in Istanbul reflected a broad-based desire for change, and his removal now signals that Erdoğan’s regime is unwilling to let that change happen through democratic means.

The Brown University professor also highlights the scale and diversity of the protest movement.

While the 2013 protests were largely driven by secular, urban youth, today’s span social, generational, and ideological divides, she notes.

"Their cause goes far beyond İmamoğlu. They are protesting the deliberate misuse of state institutions to criminalize dissent and entrench economic inequality," writes the director of the Global Linkages Lab.

According to her, Türkiye is not yet a failed democracy, but it is dangerously close to becoming one.

"Whether it returns to the path of institutional reform or continues its descent into authoritarianism will depend on the choices made in the days ahead," Kalemli-Özcan argues.

The international community – particularly the US – should pay close attention, not only because of Turkey’s geopolitical importance, but also because the struggle unfolding in its streets between students and security forces mirrors a global battle between democracy and its enemies.