Erdogan promotes the prosecutor who arrested Imamoglu to the Ministry of Justice

Akin Gurlek becomes minister in the government reshuffle ordered by the president. The interior minister also changes. The opposition CHP party is critical, having been targeted by the prosecutor over the past two years with arrests and trials. The swearing-in ceremony in Parliament was marked by protests from the opposition and clashes that led to the suspension of proceedings for a few minutes.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) - The government reshuffle ordered by Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan rewards one of the protagonists, if not the main proponent, of the judicial crackdown on the opposition through arrests and convictions, including the mayor of Istanbul and future presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoglu.

In recent days, the head of state has appointed Akin Gurlek as his new justice minister, who for the past two years has served as chief prosecutor in the country's economic and commercial heartland.

He has performed this task with such zeal and rigour that he has launched an unprecedented crackdown on the Republican People's Party (CHP), attracting heavy criticism from activists and human rights NGOs. The formalisation of the appointment has raised more than one criticism, with the anti-government faction promising to fight back.

The extent of the tension and political and institutional clash surrounding the appointment is also confirmed by the tensions recorded yesterday at the time of the formal act sanctioning its officialisation and the start of the mandate.

A bitter brawl (pictured) broke out in Parliament, with members of the main opposition party trying to prevent the newly appointed minister from taking the oath of office. Gurlek then took the oath surrounded by a group of members of the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party), who cheered and applauded him.

In addition to the Minister of Justice, the mini-reshuffle - which, according to some analysts, will see further developments and new appointments - wanted by the president also saw the replacement of Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, who was replaced by the provincial governor of Erzurum, Mustafa Ciftci.

Since his appointment as chief prosecutor in 2024, Gurlek has overseen a wave of arrests and charges against Republicans and their leading figure, the mayor of Istanbul and Erdogan's main political rival, who was imprisoned in March last year.

In a 4,000-page indictment last November, the new minister sought a prison sentence of more than 2,000 years for Imamoglu for “leading a vast corruption network”, sparking Turkey's biggest street protests in a decade.

The first hearing in the criminal proceedings initiated by the former prosecutor, which sees hundreds of defendants linked to the municipality of Istanbul in the dock on corruption charges, will begin next month, one year after the mayor's arrest.

In the first cabinet reshuffle since the mid-2023 elections, Gurlek replaced Yilmaz Tunc, who was first elected to parliament in 2007.

Hundreds of party members and elected officials have been arrested in Gurlek's crackdown, which has been branded as undemocratic and politicised by opposition parties, right-wing groups and some foreign leaders, an accusation the government denies, reiterating the independence of the judiciary. CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said Gurlek's appointment was part of a ‘judicial coup attempt’ as well as the latest act in a larger attack on his party.

‘We will not give up... They cannot stop our march to power,’ he added. CHP Vice-President Gul Ciftci added in a statement on X that Gurlek's appointment was ‘an open reward for the operations he carried out against our party’.

Among the many prominent figures in the Turkish opposition, the most illustrious name to end up on the agenda of the prosecutor promoted to minister by Erdogan is that of Imamoglu, who was arrested in March 2025 for corruption.

The mayor also faces 140 other charges, which, when added together, could result in centuries of imprisonment. For the mayor of Istanbul and other senior CHP officials, who reject all charges, the trials are politically motivated; the aim, they explain, is to eliminate the “sultan's” main rival in the 2028 presidential elections and weaken the front capable of defeating the Justice and Development Party (AKP) on several occasions at local level.