BBC Learning English - Learning English from the News / Turkey protests after political rival jailed
(Photo by Umit Turhan Coskun/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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The story
Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul, has been jailed on corruption charges.
Since then, there have been days of protests, leading to violent clashes between protestors and the authorities.
Imamoglu is seen as the main political rival to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been either prime minister of president since 2003.
Since being jailed, the main opposition party in the country declared Imamoglu their candidate for the 2028 presidential election.
His university degree had recently been annulled – cancelled – which means he is not allowed to stand for election.
News headlines
Sixth night of protests in Turkey as Erdogan hits out at unrest
BBC
Erdogan Bets World Will Turn a Blind Eye to Turmoil in Turkey
Bloomberg
Turkey's Authoritarian Turn
Jacobin
Key words and phrases
hits out at
strongly criticises
Businesses hit out at the government's plans to increase corporate taxes.
turn a blind eye
ignore something bad
I've been turning a blind eye to your lateness for far too long... You need to start arriving on time!
authoritarian turn
a movement towards authoritarian government
The trend towards strong national leaders is evidence of a growing authoritarian turn across the world.
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The public feud that unfolded last night between Donald Trump and Elon Musk closely resembles a dispute between two children in the playground. For the first term, they were inseparable. Donald invited Elon to play in his castle with all his classmates, and together they ruled the yard. But after a while, Donald decided he didn't want Elon to stay. Last week, he asked him to leave the castle and hang out with other people for a while. Elon sulked all weekend. When he came back, he told the whole school how stupid Donald and his friends were. He also claimed the only reason Donald got into the castle instead of that older kid in the first place was because of him. Before long, they were both yelling nasty insults and accusing one another of being naughty. Elon agreed with one pupil who said Donald should be kicked out of his castle. Unfortunately, the two participants in this argument are grown men. One is the leader of the free world, and the other is the world's richest man. 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The Independent
an hour ago
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