Erdoğan`s main rival vows to defeat him from behind bars
ArmInfo. Imprisoned former Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu is confident he has the deep popular support needed to take power. He is being held in a high-security prison near Istanbul, but that won't stop him from winning the presidential election.
In written responses to POLITICO questions, the former democratically elected mayor of Istanbul expressed confidence he remains a legitimate candidate capable of ending Erdoğan's 25-year dominance of Turkish politics.
The popular mayor's arrest last March sparked massive nationwide protests and international condemnation. Turkey's opposition views his imprisonment as a politically motivated maneuver by Erdoğan, an Islamist populist leader, aimed at eliminating his most effective secular opponent in the NATO member state of 88 million people.