Erdogan’s electoral setbacks unleash crackdown on opposition

Source:Financial Times Date:10Sep2019

The CHP’s Istanbul chief is not the only opposition figure to have come under pressure in recent months. Ankara’s newly elected opposition mayor, Mansur Yavas, faces an ongoing criminal case over a dispute dredged up from his time as a lawyer. In August, the mayors of three Kurdish-majority cities in south eastern Turkey were forcibly removed from their posts just five months after being elected.

These steps come at a time when Mr Erdogan, despite having accrued unprecedented power, is weaker than he has ever been in domestic political terms.