What has been happening since yesterday has a name: This is an attempted coup. The annulment of Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu’s diploma and his subsequent unlawful detention is a direct attack on the people’s right to vote and be elected. With arbitrary midnight decisions, the rule of law in universities has been trampled upon, and then the judiciary was mobilized for political interests to usurp the will of the people. In the same process, dozens of others have been detained, and de facto state of emergency conditions have been imposed in Istanbul. This situation once again exposes the collapse of the rule of law and the institutionalization of arbitrariness.
This country did not reach this point overnight. When Turkiye unilaterally withdrew from the Istanbul Convention, women’s right to live safely was put up for debate. Mechanisms protecting women from violence were gradually dismantled. While the trusteeship system was used to depose democratically elected leaders, mayors were removed from office for political calculations. Women’s solidarity structures, built through years of struggle, were shut down, and women’s shelters were rendered ineffective. The trustee regime did not only target the people’s right to govern themselves but also aimed at dismantling women’s hard-won gains. What is happening today is a continuation of years of built-up unlawfulness.
This operation is not just an attack on a mayor; it is a direct assault on the people’s will and democratic rights. The AKP government has repeatedly demonstrated that it does not recognize the right to vote and be elected when the people’s will is against it. The ongoing attacks on Ekrem İmamoğlu are a result of a governance mentality hostile to the people’s sovereignty.
As women, we recognize this unlawfulness. We will never accept the electoral victories we achieve at the ballot box being stolen at the table, our acquired rights being revoked overnight, and the rule of law being arbitrarily trampled upon. Those who try to legitimize this system should know: This country is ours, our rights are ours, our will is ours.
Ekrem İmamoğlu and all those unlawfully detained today must be released immediately. Women will continue to stand up for the future of this country! We will never allow the appointment of trustees to elected municipalities, the usurpation of the people’s will, and the transformation of the judiciary into a political tool of the government.
Women will not be silenced, the struggle will grow!
Canan Güllü
President of the Federation of Woman Association in Turkiye
