Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu had emerged as Turkey’s strongest political challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But that threat may have dissipated after Imamoglu was detained by Turkish authorities on March 19 on charges of alleged corruption and aiding a terrorist organization.

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Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was on Wednesday morning arrested, hours after his university degree was revoked and two days before his party the CHP was set to name him as its candidate to challenge Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the country’s next presidential election.