Turkey's march towards 'pure autocracy': 'Very serious' cases against Imamoglu 'political in nature' Istanbul's opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who was arrested on March 19 on corruption and terrorism charges, is seen as the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 22-year rule. His imprisonment has been widely viewed as politically motivated and has sparked nationwide protests. While the government insists Turkey’s judiciary is independent and free of political influence, our guest expert Yavuz Baydar, asserts that the cases are 'political' in nature and the "machinery of the Turkish judiciary is in sync with the political executive". Mr. Baydar is a blogger for Mediapart, a columnist for the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet and co-founder of the Platform for Independent Journalism.