Turkey’s threat to halt the process of joining the European Union by Germany
Following the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, on charges of corruption and collaboration with terrorist groups, some political observers and the Turkish community assessed this action as a political move by the ruling party and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself to sideline the main rival.
Meanwhile, Erdoğan stated that the primary reason for İmamoğlu’s arrest was judicial investigations and even described the protests resulting from this action in some of Turkey’s most significant cities as violent.
In response to this matter, the German Foreign Minister reacted to the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, assessing it as far from democratic. He, in a way, threatened Turkey with preventing its membership in the European Union and described Turkey’s membership as absurd, considering the type of democracy prevailing in the country.
It seems that the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu has created new challenges for Turkey, further darkening the political outlook of the ruling party alongside economic problems for governance.
