The detention of Ekrem İmamoğlu, Istanbul's mayor and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's most formidable rival, on March 19th sparked the largest demonstrations in Turkey in years. Last Saturday, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets, expressing their discontent with the government and demanding the release of the city's imprisoned mayor, who is the Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate for the 2028 Turkish presidential election. According to Reuters, nearly 1,900 people have been arrested.
İmamoğlu’s jailing marks another significant moment in Turkey’s shift toward authoritarianism—an ongoing process that arguably began in 2010 with a constitutional referendum that granted President Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its allies control over the judiciary. In recent years, hundreds of activists, journalists, politicians, and municipal officials have been imprisoned. Shahram Aghamir spoke with UC Berkeley sociologist Cihan Tugal and started by asking him how this consolidation power took place in Turkey.
Jacobin: The Unlikely Resistance in Turkey
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The detention of Ekrem İmamoğlu, Istanbul's mayor and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's most formidable rival, on March 19th sparked the largest demonstrations in Turkey in years. Last Saturday, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets, expressing their discontent with the government and demanding the release of the city's imprisoned mayor, who is the Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate for the 2028 Turkish presidential election. According to Reuters, nearly 1,900 people have been arrested.
İmamoğlu’s jailing marks another significant moment in Turkey’s shift toward authoritarianism—an ongoing process that arguably began in 2010 with a constitutional referendum that granted President Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its allies control over the judiciary. In recent years, hundreds of activists, journalists, politicians, and municipal officials have been imprisoned. Shahram Aghamir spoke with UC Berkeley sociologist Cihan Tugal and started by asking him how this consolidation power took place in Turkey.
Jacobin: The Unlikely Resistance in Turkey
Are Israel and Hezbollah on the brink of an all-out war?
Voices of the Middle East and North Africa
58 minutes 3 seconds
1 year ago
Are Israel and Hezbollah on the brink of an all-out war?
Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah are at all-time high. Israel and Lebenese Hezbollah have been exchanging fire since October 8 the, when Israel launched its devastating war on Gaza, but the conflict between the two archenemies escalated after one of Hezbollah's most senior commanders was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, on June 11the. Hezbollah retaliated by launching a large volley of rockets and attack drones at Israel. Concurrently, both sides have stepped up their rhetoric. Are Israel and Hezbollah on the brink of an all-out war? What will the implications of such a war be for Lebanon, Israel and the region? And what is the nexus between Israeli-Hezbollah conflict and Israel’s colonization of Palestine and its ongoing genocidal war in Gaza?
Shahram Aghamir put these questions to Karim Makdisi. He is an associate Professor of international politics and founding director of the Graduate Program in Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut – Professor Makdisi is also the co-host of Makdisi Street podcast
Voices of the Middle East and North Africa
The detention of Ekrem İmamoğlu, Istanbul's mayor and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's most formidable rival, on March 19th sparked the largest demonstrations in Turkey in years. Last Saturday, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets, expressing their discontent with the government and demanding the release of the city's imprisoned mayor, who is the Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate for the 2028 Turkish presidential election. According to Reuters, nearly 1,900 people have been arrested.
İmamoğlu’s jailing marks another significant moment in Turkey’s shift toward authoritarianism—an ongoing process that arguably began in 2010 with a constitutional referendum that granted President Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its allies control over the judiciary. In recent years, hundreds of activists, journalists, politicians, and municipal officials have been imprisoned. Shahram Aghamir spoke with UC Berkeley sociologist Cihan Tugal and started by asking him how this consolidation power took place in Turkey.
Jacobin: The Unlikely Resistance in Turkey
