Ekrem Imamogul, one of Turkey’s most popular politicians, comes across as something relaxed, eloquent and contemporary. He always knows how to appeal to different social groups and hopes to prefer a more inclusive style of politics, including everyone in politics.
His attitude can also be seen as a response to the current Turkish government’s style. In Turkish politics, it is very common to use patronizing and shaming discourses “with us and them” against political enemies.
The 54-year-old’s attitude has certainly contributed to his popularity in Turkey’s increasingly polarized society in recent years. Mayor of Istanbul has been considered since 2019 to Imamoguru as one of the most serious rivals of current Turkish president Recept Tayp Erdogan, and his secular Republican People’s Party, or CHP, is set to make him a candidate for the upcoming presidential election.
Despite his kind methods, on March 19, Imamoguru was arrested on suspicion of corruption and terrorism. The terrorist charges were subsequently dismissed, but the court ruled that they must remain in pre-trial detention.
The arrest sparked the biggest opposition protest in Türkiye since the so-called GEZI protest in 2013.
Soccer, Construction, Meatball
The majority of Turks probably didn’t hear about Imamoguru until 2019.
Born in 1970, Imamoguru grew up in Trabzon. There he took part in the Qur’an classes and gave him a religious education. Imamoguru later studied in Cyprus and Istanbul and graduated with a degree in business administration.
Before entering politics, he ran an Istanbul restaurant specializing in kofte (Turkish meatballs) and managed Imamoguru Insert, the family construction company. From 2002 to 2003 he was an officer of the football club Trabzonspor, his home team, and one of Turkey’s most successful soccer clubs.
By 2009 he had entered local politics and in 2014 he became mayor of the middle-class Beyrikduz district of Istanbul. It was a surprise to many when the CHP announced him as a candidate in the Mayor’s Competition of All Istanbul.
Many opposition supporters believed he had no chance against Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or candidates supported by the AKP.
However, Imamoguru won these local elections with more than 13,000 votes than the AKP candidates, taking away the metropolitan cities that had been ruled by conservative Muslims for 25 years. Appeal by the AKP, Turkish election authorities, the highest election council, negated the outcome. Then, three months later, he won again. This time, it received a significant margin of over 800,000 votes.
Imamoguru won the mayoral election again in 2024. President Erdogan and the AKP set the goal of winning this, describing it as “the beginning of a new era.” The mayor of Istanbul is also important to Erdogan, who was the mayor of the capital between 1994 and 1998. However, Imamoguru took a nearly 10% points lead over AKP challenger Muratkulm.
Imamoguru also has critics
Allegations of fraud, corruption and voter enforcement have led to elections being held in Turkey, and Imamogul’s victory was often seen as evidence that Turkish democracy still functions and that elections could actually win against the increasingly authoritarian AKP government.
Of course, there was also criticism of Imamoguru. When parts of Istanbul were affected by the floods in 2019, he was on summer vacation and was away. When the earthquake struck Erazig province in eastern Turkey in 2020, he visited the city with many other politicians, but traveled to another part of Turkey for a ski holiday.
“It’s normal for families to spend two days on vacation with their children,” Imamoguru told critics.
This article was first published in German on 19.01.2023 and updated on 23.03.2025.
