Erdogan has been using the #WeaponizedJudiciary to block Turkey’s political opposition in the run up to 2023 elections. The conviction of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and the ban on him from holding elected political office is another example of these attacks on the opposition.

The ruling against Imamoglu appears to be a pattern of similar events befalling political rivals of Erdogan ahead of the 2023 elections. In May, Turkey’s Court of Cassation upheld the conviction of Canan Kaftancıoğlu, the Istanbul Republian People’s Party chair.

Selahattin Demirtaş, the former co-chair of turkey's second-largest opposition party, has been detained since 2016. He has been convicted under Article 314, an anti-terror provision, Turkish Government has increasingly been misusing to prosecute the critics of its policies.