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Is Ekrem Imamoglu a Turkish-Greek?
Pro-government media’s groundless charge against deposed Istanbul mayor reveals the lasting dark legacy of Turkey’s unfinished nation-building and haunting specter of ethnonationalism.
The 18-day tenure as Istanbul mayor made Ekrem Imamoglu an implacable foe in the eyes of the ruling party and its supporters in Turkey, while turning him to a rare figure of national hopes for political salvation among the divided and disgruntled opposition. Across pro-government media outlets, not a single day passes without an assault on Imamoglu, digging every minute of his mayoralty, ascribing all the blame for the follies and blunders of the past decade on a man who only governed Turkey’s largest city for 18 days.
Spin doctors and die-hard columnists made Imamoglu-bashing a favorite sport ahead of June 23 re-run of Istanbul election. But a recent charge against him recalled some sort of Trumpian birtherism claims against former U.S. President Barack Obama, taking electoral controversy into a completely different terrain fraught with steep moral and ethical issues.
AKP Esenler Mayor Tevfik Goksu, attending a Ramadan event, questioned Imamoglu’s ethnic origins, implying that he would be of Greek origin from Turkey’s Black Sea…
