With the jailing of Istanbul's mayor on corruption charges, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan has got rid of his most powerful opponent. Now his sights are set on the main opposition CHP, analysts say.

"When the big fishes are exposed, they won't dare to look their own families in the eye, let alone the nation," the president warned this week, hinting at a fresh legal action targeting the Republican People's Party (CHP).

Last week, Istanbul's popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested along with several top aides as well as two other district mayors as part of a fraud and "terror" probe, the move sparking a massive wave of protests across the country.

All three mayors belong to the CHP, which on Sunday elected Imamoglu as its candidate for the 2028 presidential race. A fourth CHP mayor was also quizzed this week over fraud allegations.

Press reports suggest the authorities are now trying to block a CHP congress on April 6 in order to decapitate its leadership a year after the party won a landslide victory in Turkey's local elections.

"The scale of........

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