Turkish court could oust opposition leader

Erdogan critics warn of ‘autocratic slide’

- 

A Turkish court will decide on Monday whether to oust the head of the main opposition, in what some see asa test of the country’s shaky balance between democracy and autocracy after a nearly yearlong legal crackdown on the party.

Hundreds of members of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) have been jailed pending trial ina sprawling probe into alleged corruption and terrorism links, among them President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival — Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

The unprecedented crackdown, which has eroded the CHP’s leadership ranks, has also sharpened concerns over what critics call Turkey's autocratic slide in which the courts, media, military, central bank and other formerly more independentinstitutions have bent to Mr Erdogan’s will over his 22-year reign.

The centrist CHP, which denies the charges against it, is neck-and-neck with Mr Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted, conservative AK party (AKP) in the polls, and its scrappy, hoarse-voiced leader Ozgur Ozel has risen to prominence since Imamoglu’s detention.

After headlining several dozen big anti-Erdogan street rallies this year, Mr Ozel has emerged as the president's next biggest rival.