Wire report

‘This process has turned into a form of torture’: inside the trial of Erdoğan’s challenger

He was elected mayor of Istanbul in 2019, and had announced his candidacy for the 2028 presidential elections. But Ekrem İmamoğlu is now behind bars, and his trial, on charges including fraud and organised crime, could take 12 years This piece first appeared in the Dial There’s a Turkish saying, “ Silivri soğuktur ”: Silivri is cold. You’ll hear it from journalists, politicians and activists after they say something critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government. The kind of comments that could send them to the notorious prison complex in Silivri, where it would take months before they saw a judge. For decades, Silivri was considered a “ sayfiye yeri ”, a place for cottages, country and summer houses. All around the complex are small family-run farms and villas with private pools, protected by watchdogs. Construction of the Marmara Prison complex began in 2005 and lasted three y

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Why it mattersGlobal

He was elected mayor of Istanbul in 2019, and had announced his candidacy for the 2028 presidential elections. But Ekrem İmamoğlu is now behind bars, and his trial, on charges including fraud and organised crime, could take 12 years This piece first appeared in the Dial There’s a Turkish saying, “ Silivri soğuktur ”: Silivri is cold. You’ll hear it from journalists, politicians and activists after they say something critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government. The kind of comments that could send them to the notorious prison complex in Silivri, where it would take months before they saw a judge. For decades, Silivri was considered a “ sayfiye yeri ”, a place for cottages, country and summer houses. All around the complex are small family-run farms and villas with private pools, protected by watchdogs. Construction of the Marmara Prison complex began in 2005 and lasted three y

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According to The Guardian’s linked report, ‘This process has turned into a form of torture’: inside the trial of Erdoğan’s challenger, He was elected mayor of Istanbul in 2019, and had announced his candidacy for the 2028 presidential elections. But Ekrem İmamoğlu is now behind bars, and his trial, on charges including fraud and organised crime, could take 12 years This piece first appeared in the Dial There’s a Turkish saying, “ Silivri soğuktur ”: Silivri is cold. You’ll hear it from journalists, politicians and activists after they say something critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government. The kind of comments that could send them to the notorious prison complex in Silivri, where it would take months before they saw a judge. For decades, Silivri was considered a “ sayfiye yeri ”, a place for cottages, country and summer houses. All around the complex are small family-run farms and villas with private pools, protected by watchdogs. Construction of the Marmara Prison complex began in 2005 and lasted three y

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The development sits in VINI’s Global coverage for readers following international affairs, institutions, conflict, diplomacy, economics, and cross-border consequences. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The linked report is dated 2026-07-14T04:00:19+00:00.

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Primary source: ‘This process has turned into a form of torture’: inside the trial of Erdoğan’s challenger via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

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