Ekrem İmamoğlu has served as Mayor of Istanbul since 2019, building a model of inclusive, solidarity-based governance that has made him one of the most popular elected leaders in Turkey. In March 2025, he was arrested on politically motivated charges widely condemned by democratic leaders across Europe and beyond.
“The heart of the country”
“Istanbul is the heart of the country,” says Ambassador (R) Mustafa Osman Turan, Foreign Relations Advisor to the Mayor. “Its economic activity, its population, everything flows through Istanbul.”
The city of 16 million people is larger than many countries, and since 2019 İmamoğlu has governed it with a clear philosophy: that a city should work for all its residents, not just those who voted for its mayor.
That philosophy found expression in what became known as solidarity municipalism. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the municipality launched Pay It Forward, a scheme connecting residents who could not afford their utility bills with those willing to cover them, creating a solidarity network that won an international award from Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2021.
The administration’s work to make Istanbul a better place to live for all its citizens continues. So far, the administration opened more than 120 affordable daycare centres across Istanbul’s 39 districts and now provides free transport cards to mothers with children 4 years old and under so they could drop their children off and continue to work. More than 110 affordable restaurants across the city offer three-course meals for around one euro. Affordable housing for six thousand students was created to address the housing crisis, alongside municipal scholarships to support young people who might otherwise have had to leave the city to study.
“He didn’t distinguish between those who voted for him and those who didn’t,” says Ambassador Turan. “He brought services to all 39 districts.”
It was precisely that success, Turan argues, that made İmamoğlu a challenge. “When mayors become a threat to national leaders because they are so popular and supported by the people, when citizens want to promote them to national governance, that becomes a problem. That is exactly what happened in Istanbul.”
A democratic crisis
İmamoğlu won his first mayoral election in 2019 by a narrow margin. When the government claimed irregularities and forced a rerun, he won again, this time by 800,000 votes. He was re-elected in 2024 with an even larger margin.Shortly after he announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2025, his university diploma was revoked, a constitutional requirement for running, and he was arrested. The timing was not coincidental.
“The government jailed not only the mayor of the largest city in Turkey,” says Turan, “but also the most popular presidential candidate of the democratic opposition. It was lawfare, carried out to eliminate him as a rival.”
The arrests did not stop with İmamoğlu. Fourteen other district mayors in Istanbul, along with mayors of other cities governed by the main opposition party, hundreds of municipal officials, drivers, secretaries and contractors were detained. “They created a narrative of an octopus-like criminal organisation,” says Turan, “arresting innocent people with no evidence. Unfortunately, the justice system in Turkey can no longer be qualified as fully independent.”
Yet the city administration in Istanbul has not been derailed. An acting mayor, elected by the municipal council and a trusted ally of İmamoğlu, continues to run the city. All services are being delivered. All debts have been paid even before their due dates, despite the government restricting municipality’s financial resources and refusing to approve loans for its projects. İmamoğlu himself, though held in a high-security prison with limited contact with the outside world, continues to express his opinion through articles and written interviews through his lawyers.
“As we experience this struggle,” says Turan, “we are accumulating a great deal of knowledge. That knowledge will be useful for other local leaders after we succeed.”
Building bridges
Long before his arrest, İmamoğlu had been building bridges across the Balkans and beyond. In 2021, he founded the B40 Balkan Cities Network, a regional platform for municipal cooperation in a part of Europe often defined by historical tensions and political sensitivities. What began with 23 founding members has grown into a network of 77 member cities from 12 Balkan countries, bringing together municipalities from Belgrade to Sarajevo, Athens to Zagreb, around shared urban challenges such as climate change, migration, digital and green transition as well as a common commitment to local democracy.
Annual B40 Youth Summits have brought together approximately 800 young people from across the Balkans, investing in the long-term future of the cooperation. “Better cooperation, better future” is the network’s guiding principle, and it has proven remarkably durable: even as İmamoğlu sits in prison, the B40 continues to meet, issue declarations in defence of local democracy and expand its membership.
His ambitions extend beyond the Balkans. In October 2023, he organised the world’s first Megacities Summit in Istanbul, bringing together representatives of the world’s largest cities to strengthen their collective voice in international policy debates. In 2024, he convened a Meeting of Mayors for Peace and Cooperation in the Middle East and North Africa, exploring city-led approaches to stability in one of the world’s most volatile regions. A regular speaker at COP Summits and the Munich Security Conference, he has consistently argued that cities are not just policy implementers but agenda-shapers in climate, peace and democratic governance.
For his resilience and commitment to democracy, he has earned both the Eurocities Special Democracy Award in 2025, received on his behalf by his wife at a ceremony in Istanbul attended by a delegation of European mayors, and the Mayor Pawel Adamowicz Award in 2026,
Defending democracy together
Since the imprisonment, İmamoğlu has not gone quiet. From his cell, he continues to make his mark on the global stage: writing articles for international media, giving written interviews through his lawyers.
“His leadership, his courage, his integrity inspire so many people,” says Turan. “Not only in Istanbul, not only across Turkey, but around the world.”
That inspiration has taken on an institutional form. Through the Urban 20 framework, Istanbul has proposed the creation of an International Observatory for Mayors at Risk, a monitoring body to track cases of lawfare against elected local officials. The observatory has since gained significant traction, with its first online meeting held in March and a dedicated democracy debate planned at the Eurocities Annual Conference in Utrecht in June 2026.
“What is happening here today in Turkey may happen in another country tomorrow,” says Turan. “Mayors in Budapest, Zagreb and Sofia have been facing pressure from their own national governments. Someone has to defend these principles in times of democratic crisis.” The pattern, he argues, is consistent: when mayors become too popular, too close to their citizens, too credible as national political figures, they may become targets.
“His legacy is based on his fight for justice, democracy and freedom,” says Turan. “But he is not just a freedom fighter. He is a pragmatic local leader who can solve the daily problems of citizens. Not only a man of ideas and principles, but a man of practice who delivers on his promises.”
A legacy built to last
Ekrem İmamoğlu wanted to be known as the most democratic mayor of Istanbul. “And I think,” says Turan, “with his experience and his struggle, he has proven to be one of the most democratic mayors in the world.”
That legacy rests on two pillars. On one side, a fierce and public commitment to justice, democracy and freedom, demonstrated not just in words but in the willingness to pay a personal price for it. On the other, a record of practical, unglamorous urban governance: fixing transportation, improving waste collection, managing water, opening daycare centres, feeding students.
The international solidarity that has gathered around him reflects both. Since day one, mayors across Europe and the United States have stood with Istanbul. “Few national governments have offered Istanbul solidarity,” says Turan, “but the mayors have fully supported us since the beginning.”
If İmamoğlu were in this interview, Turan believes he would have one message for the world. “He would want people to know that the people of Turkey who believe in democracy and justice are resilient. They are not going to give up until justice is restored and democracy is functioning again. And he would want that determination to inspire others to do the same. Because we need a stronger solidarity network among democratic forces across the world to counter what is happening.”
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Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu one of the shortlisted ‘City Heroes’ at the Eurocities Awards 2026. You can view the full awards shortlist here.
The winners will be announced at the Eurocities Annual Conference in Utrecht, 8-10 June 2026. Register to the Annual Conference to join the ceremony.
