Humour is no laughing matter in Turkey, it is a mechanism for coping with stress and suppression. It carries a deep well of melancholy. One of our running jokes these days goes like this: a journalist behind bars asks the prison guards if he might have some books to read and enquires about a particular novel. “No, we don’t have that novel,” comes the reply. “But we do have the author.”
Turkey has long been one of the world’s worst jailers of media professionals, academics and human rights activists — it ranks 165th among 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index (2023). It has one of the highest prison populations in Europe. But now, put under lock and key, is Ekrem İmamoğlu, the charismatic and much-loved mayor of Istanbul. İmamoğlu is no ordinary politician. He is hugely popular and the biggest rival to president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s regime. This is the reason why, in a shocking turn of events, his university degree was revoked and he was arrested just as he was about to announce his presidential nomination. On the day his party, the Republican People’s party (CHP) officially declared him the presidential nominee, he was sent to the high-security Silivri prison.
Millions of people, both in Turkey and across the diaspora, are shocked and angry in the face of this blatant injustice and clampdown on the political opposition. Protests have erupted across the country, with massive rallies taking place in at least 55 of the 81 provinces, despite the government’s concerted attempts to outlaw them. The fact that demonstrations are happening on such a wide scale in a country where media freedom is destroyed, and where almost all TV channels are under strict censorship, is in itself noteworthy. “Law enforcement officials indiscriminately used pepper spray, tear gas, plastic bullets and water cannons against protesters, causing numerous injuries,” reported Human Rights Watch. Almost 1,900 people were arrested, even photojournalists who were covering the events. CHP has called for a nationwide boycott of pro-government companies and media, and more rallies are being planned for the coming weeks.