Ekrem İmamoğlu
Ekrem İmamoğlu is a Turkish politician and businessman who has served as the 32nd Mayor of Istanbul since 2019. He is currently suspended from office. He is the Republican People's Party candidate for the next Turkish presidential election.
İmamoğlu was born in Akçaabat and moved to Istanbul in 1987. He attained a Bachelor's degree in business administration and a Master's degree in human resource management from Istanbul University and then worked as a developer in his family's construction and real estate business. In 2002, he became a board member of the multi-sport club Trabzonspor. İmamoğlu joined the CHP in 2008 and acted as president of party's local chapter in Beylikdüzü before being elected as mayor of Beylikdüzü in 2014. İmamoğlu was nominated by the CHP to replace Kadir Topbaş as Mayor of Istanbul in 2017 but the position went to Mevlüt Uysal.
In March 2019, İmamoğlu was elected as Mayor of Istanbul in an upset victory against the ruling AK Party-backed candidate Binali Yıldırım: despite the AK Party successfully annulling and repeating the election that June, İmamoğlu was reelected. In his first term, İmamoğlu combatted child malnutrition by improving access to milk from local dairy farmers, provided tertiary education scholarships, reduced public transportation fares and utility costs for certain residents, and oversaw Istanbul's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. İmamoğlu's environmental initiatives included launching a program to clean the Golden Horn and replacing phaetons with all-electric vehicles on the Princes' Islands. He led the restoration of the Esenler Coach Terminal and expanded the city's public transport network. İmamoğlu was reelected as Istanbul Mayor for a second term in 2024, and is considered a front-runner for the 2028 presidential election.
Legal issues and 2025 arrest
In December 2022, İmamoğlu was sentenced to 2 years, 7 months, and 15 days imprisonment and banned from participating in politics after being found guilty of insulting public officials. His sentence and ban was halted pending his appeal.In March 2025, İmamoğlu was arrested on corruption and political charges, with allegations including extortion, money laundering, irregularities in public contracts, and links to the PKK. This terminated his mayorship and led Istanbul University to invalidate İmamoğlu's diplomas, effectively disqualifying him from presidential candidacy. His arrest triggered nationwide protests.
Early life
İmamoğlu was born in the town of Akçaabat, west of the city Trabzon, on 4 June 1970. During early childhood, he lived in the rural communities Cevizli and Yıldızlı, southwest of Akçaabat. He graduated from Trabzon High School, where he played amateur football and handball. After his graduation from Trabzon High School, he studied at the Girne American University in Kyrenia, Northern Cyprus and he played as a goalkeeper at Türk Ocağı Limasol S.K. In 1987 his family moved to Istanbul. He attended Istanbul University, and received a Bachelor's degree in business administration and a Master's degree in human resource management. Following his graduation, he joined his family's business in construction. In 1995, he married Dilek Kaya, and together they have three children. In 2002, he became a board member of Trabzonspor, and he was also a vice president of the Trabzonspor B.K. basketball team.Political career
Since İmamoğlu's father was a member of the Motherland Party, İmamoğlu briefly participated in the youth wing of the party in early 1990s although his mother's family was supportive of the Republican People's Party. İmamoğlu joined the CHP in 2008, and was elected as the head of the party's youth wing in 2009. On 16 September 2009, he was selected by the CHP as the president of party's local chapter in the Istanbul district of Beylikdüzü. He was then reelected to this position on 8 March 2012, before resigning on 15 July 2013 to run for mayor of Beylikdüzü. The election was held on 30 March 2014, as part of the 2014 Turkish local elections, and İmamoğlu won with 50.83% of the vote, defeating the incumbent AK Party candidate Yusuf Uzun.Following the announcement of Istanbul Municipality Mayor Kadir Topbaş's resignation on 23 September 2017, İmamoğlu was nominated by the CHP to replace him. In the Istanbul Municipal Assembly election to fulfill the remainder of Topbaş's term, İmamoğlu lost to the AKP candidate Mevlüt Uysal after three rounds, by a mostly party-line vote of 125 to 179.
2019 mayoral elections
The CHP again nominated İmamoğlu for the 2019 Istanbul mayoral election on 18 December 2018. Both the Good Party, which formed an alliance with the CHP, and Peoples' Democratic Party declined to nominate candidates, which may have increased support for İmamoğlu.In the run-up to the elections, his campaign received worldwide attention for its mild-mannered and unifying approach, resulting in a narrowing of opinion polls against his rival, People's Alliance candidate Binali Yıldırım. The election was held on 31 March 2019, with İmamoğlu defeating AK Party candidate Binali Yıldırım by roughly 25,000 votes according to the election day totals released by the Supreme Electoral Council. Following his upset victory in which the ruling AK Party significantly outspent him and received more media coverage, İmamoğlu was called a rising star in Turkish politics and a potential candidate to challenge Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the 2023 Turkish presidential election.
The AK Party disputed the election results on behalf of its candidate, alleging that invalid votes may have swayed the election, and erected large posters in the city proclaiming Yıldırım as the election's winner. İmamoğlu, in turn, accused the AK Party of being "bad losers." Following a government-backed recount, İmamoğlu's lead was reduced to roughly 16,000 votes.
Mayor of Istanbul (2019–present)
İmamoğlu was sworn in as Mayor of Istanbul on 17 April 17 days after the election, following the conclusion of all recounts. His mayoral tenure came to an end when on 6 May 2019, the Supreme Electoral Council annulled the election results and removed him as Mayor of Istanbul. According to the YSK, the decision was taken because some presiding officers and polling staff were not civil servants. Turkish law stipulates they must be civil servants. However, many have called this action as a move to undo the will of the voters, who handed a narrow but fiercely contested victory to the opposition candidate. Ali Yerlikaya was named the interim mayor by the Interior Ministry of Turkey on 7 May 2019.A new election was held on 23 June 2019, in which İmamoğlu was re-elected as the mayor of Istanbul, with a lead of more than 800,000 votes this time. Following his second loss to İmamoğlu, Yıldırım conceded defeat and also congratulated İmamoğlu on his re-election as mayor of Istanbul. Erdoğan also congratulated İmamoğlu and acknowledged that he won the election. İmamoğlu was then sworn into office on 27 June 2019. The same day he also received his mayoral certificate for the second time.
Environmental actions
İmamoğlu started a continuous bottom mud cleaning in the Golden Horn, which was frequently on the agenda with water pollution. After a long time, the Golden Horn regained its natural vitality, with fish swimming and dolphins racing. The phaeton, which has been the subject of controversy on the Princes' Islands due to its adverse health effect on horses and the carriages' impact on passing infectious diseases, was replaced by all-electric vehicles as a result of the "Prince's Islands Transportation Workshop" program. Against the earthquake risk, which is the top priority of Istanbul, risky areas and unsafe buildings are detected with detection scans all over the city. İmamoğlu has been critical of the Turkish government's plan to build the Istanbul Canal, which would link the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea through a second waterway alongside the natural Bosporus.Socioeconomic actions
The People's Milk project that started for children to have access to milk has reached more than 130 thousand children. The People's Milk project has been launched to prevent malnutrition, one of the most important dangers of urban poverty, and to provide economic and psychological support to families, also to support local dairy farmers. Milk, which is procured from producers in Çatalca and Silivri, providing a budget of more than 3 million liras to the local economy, is delivered to children in Istanbul as a reliable and healthy food source. "Istanbul is our Home" kindergartens, which provide equal opportunities in education for children who are deprived of pre-school education and their families, were established as centers that were meticulously planned in accordance with the physical and social needs of children. In Istanbul, which hosts the leading universities of Turkey, education support scholarships were provided to 63 thousand students for the first time in the history of Istanbul.With the monthly student subscription fee reduced from 80 TL to 50 TL, Istanbul became the city that provides the cheapest student transportation in Turkey. Regional Employment Offices, one of the important projects implemented by IMM, enabled more than 17 thousand citizens to participate in employment as of June 2021. Mothers with children aged 0–4 residing in Istanbul were given free public transportation right in Istanbul. The Mother Card, which increases the participation of mothers in social life and contributes to the family economy, has been used more than 8 million times to date. An online aid campaign has been launched, calling on better-off residents to help financially troubled dwellers in paying their unpaid bills, as the coronavirus pandemic has strained many households in Turkey's largest city. People who want to help can participate in solidarity through a reliable platform by donating whatever they want from the Family Support, Mother-Baby and Student Support packages prepared by IMM to deliver to those in need. People's Bread project turned into a social aid campaign spontaneously after İmamoğlu thanked a benevolent Istanbulite for demanding that all bread in a mobile Halk Ekmek kiosk be paid for and delivered to those in need.
The support given by philanthropists to deliver them to families in need has exceeded 1 million lira in total. The water bills of Istanbul residents were reduced by up to 34% and the human right to water was introduced for every Istanbulite. Accordingly, 0.5 cubic meters, or 500 liters, of every 2.5 cubic meters of water consumed in residences is now considered a "human right to water". 9 years after this right was accepted at the UN Human Rights Council, Istanbul residents are starting to get their rights for the first time. IMM gives priority to women's cooperatives in the products to be supplied to families in need, with the movement it started throughout Turkey, especially in Istanbul, for the participation of women in production and the evaluation of women's labor. The Newborn Support Package was launched to support families in need. Packages containing everything that a baby and a mother will need in the first 4 months, from feeding bottles to thermometers, from booties to pajamas, from baby shampoo to diapers and family training books, have reached the first families and the distribution of new ones continues. In addition, the families that the package reaches are visited by experts for a year, and their needs are determined.