Sawt Falasteen - Turkey's jailed mayor says demand for change cannot be stopped

"An irreversible process for a change in power has begun in Turkey and it won't stop until it is complete. I cannot stop it ... nor can the ruling party nor the judiciary," Ekrem Imamoglu said in a written response to AFP questions conveyed via lawyers from his prison cell in Silivri, west of Istanbul.

"Whatever is done to my party or me, we won't abandon this path (to democracy) we're walking on with the nation," said the 54-year-old.

His remarks came just days before his trial on Monday in a massive corruption case that critics say is designed to block him from challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the next election.

His arrest nearly a year ago sparked some of Turkey's biggest street protests in over a decade and was followed by mounting legal pressure on the main opposition CHP, the party he was chosen to represent in the next presidential race.

To date, 15 CHP mayors are behind bars.

Imamoglu said support for the opposition had been growing in a sign of public demand for change and growing fatigue with Erdogan's rule -- a sentiment which the government will struggle to contain.

"The ruling power must have thought that the nation's demand for change was a show of personal support for me, and that once they eliminated me, no obstacle would remain, so they took me hostage, but what happened?" he asked.

"The nation's demand for change continues to grow day-by-day, getting stronger."

-'Counting the days'-

Imamoglu was jailed on the day he was named the CHP's presidential candidate. He is widely seen as one of the only politicians capable of defeating Erdogan at the ballot box.

Although the mayor is facing a slew of legal cases, Monday's is by far the biggest, in which he is accused of a string of charges, notably running a criminal network.

"Judicial independence is struggling to survive," he told AFP, admitting he still had some hope for a fair trial, despite his experience over the past year which revealed "not a fair and independent judiciary but a group (of people) whose sole purpose was to detain me by manipulating the law".

In a separate case, Imamoglu is facing an even more significant legal obstacle: a lawsuit challenging the validity of his university degree -- a constitutional requirement for presidential candidates in Turkey.

Political observers say his chances of contesting the presidential race remain slim even if he is acquitted in the graft case. He expects CHP leader Ozgur Ozel to emerge as the likely candidate.

"Everyone who wants this government to change will no longer focus on the identity of the candidate," Imamoglu said.

"The government is now openly threatening people's right to choose. If you block every candidate that people elect or want, they will vote for whoever it takes to make you go. This is a reflex to protect democracy," he said.

"One way or another, this government will change -- that's what matters. Our nation is counting the days."

- 'Strengthened' -

Despite the ongoing "pressures and arrests" targeting CHP over the past year, the government's strategy was not working, he said.

"Over the past year, my party has emerged not weakened, but strengthened," while the ruling side was "struggling in the swamp, wasting time," he said.

"If an election were held today, CHP would still be the number one party ... and those in power would be removed."

Imamoglu said he had quickly adapted to life behind bars -- an existence shared by "many politicians, journalists and citizens unjustly imprisoned for political reasons".

"I have had no difficulty adapting to prison," he told AFP, saying he spends his time reading extensively, especially about Turkish political and intellectual life.

But even inside, far from the multiple demands of political life, one thing has not changed.

"Even before going to prison, I had a life where 24 hours were never enough -- and that is still the case."

Q.Bulbul--SF-PST