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Sir Keir Starmer has been plunged into an espionage row on a visit to Turkey to seal a multibillion-pound arms deal, after prosecutors in Istanbul charged the country’s leading opposition politician with indirectly spying for British intelligence.
The row threatens to overshadow Starmer’s visit to Ankara to finalise the sale of up to 40 Eurofighter jets, as critics highlight the growing authoritarianism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The charges against Ekrem İmamoğlu, Istanbul’s charismatic mayor who is widely seen as the main rival to Erdoğan, follow his imprisonment in March and could pave the way for the Turkish state to take control of Istanbul.
Erdoğan has been accused of clamping down on challengers and many Turks suspect that he intends to extend his presidential rule beyond the two terms currently allowed by the constitution. The next election is scheduled for 2028.
But the timing of the charges will feel particularly pointed for Starmer as he visits Ankara, and will highlight how the UK’s push to bolster its economy through boosting its defence sector can lead to uncomfortable compromises.
Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu at his office in Istanbul before his arrest © Siamak Ebrahimi/FT
Critics suggest western powers have largely turned a blind eye to democratic backsliding in Ankara as they focus on their Nato partner’s growing military significance and burgeoning defence capabilities.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who lifted Berlin’s opposition to Eurofighter sales to Turkey in July, paving the way for the deal, is also due to visit Ankara on Thursday. British officials expect the deal to be worth £6bn and create 20,000 jobs in the UK.
“Turkish democracy is the casualty of Europe’s rediscovery of Turkey’s strategic value,” independent journalist Barçın Yinanç wrote in a recent column, reflecting a common view held by Turkey’s beleaguered political opposition.
The latest spy charges against İmamoğlu concerned alleged links between his campaign team and a businessman who was arrested in July on suspicion of working for the British foreign intelligence service MI6, Anadolu Agency reported.
The Turkish government insists the country’s courts are independent and that the cases are not politically motivated.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The UK expects Turkey to uphold its international obligations and the rule of law, including the right to a fair trial. We have raised the arrests, including that of the Istanbul mayor and [legal] process for the Turkish government at a number of levels.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is visiting Turkey to seal a multibillion-pound arms deal © Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
İmamoğlu, who led the opposition Republican People’s party (CHP) to victory against Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development party in local elections last year, has been in detention since March under a separate corruption probe, alongside dozens of other CHP mayors. At the time, his arrest sparked mass protests and a financial panic.
Currently in prison awaiting trial, the key difference with the latest espionage case against İmamoğlu is that if the courts find enough evidence to merit an indictment, the interior ministry could appoint a government trustee to take over the Istanbul mayoralty, analysts said.
At a preliminary hearing on Sunday, İmamoğlu, who has denied all charges, said it would be “more realistic to be charged with burning down Rome”.
Turkey, which has Nato’s second-biggest army after the US, desperately needs new fighter jets to replace its ageing fleet of US-made F16s.
Britain and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding in July for the sale of up to 40 Eurofighter jets to Ankara, reflecting Europe’s recognition of Turkey’s military weight as a bulwark against Russian revanchism and Middle East instability.
“They claimed Turkey was drifting away from the western alliance. They claimed Turkey was being pushed out of the game. They were proven wrong,” Erdoğan said on Saturday.
“From Syria to Gaza, from the Gulf to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, no equation can be formed without Turkey,” he added.
Opposition politicians slammed the way the government had timed Starmer’s visit to coincide with İmamoğlu’s latest court case as a “striking picture of bad governance”.
“They boast that the most perfect period in history is being experienced in bilateral relations with England,” said CHP member of parliament Namik Tan.
“Then . . . before the British Prime Minister’s visit to Turkey, they find some guy, have him declare ‘I’m a British agent’, and through him attempt to level a farcical espionage accusation [against İmamoğlu] . . . so they can cleverly . . . seize the Istanbul mayoralty through a trustee,” Tan wrote in a social media post.
Additional reporting by Mari Novik in London