President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken Turkey closer to autocracy with the arrest of the elected mayor of Istanbul, but the scale of the ensuing protests could yet shake his grip, analysts say.

Long accused by opponents of presiding over a drift into authoritarianism, analysts say Erdogan crossed a new line with the arrest last week of the elected mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, a popular and charismatic figure who made no secret of his desire to challenge the Turkish strongman.

Turkey's political life remains based on a cycle of municipal, presidential and legislative elections and it does not yet resemble Russia -- where presidential elections turned into a rubber stamp of Vladimir Putin's authority -- or Iran where the supreme leader is chosen for life by a clerical body.

But the apparent bid to eliminate Imamoglu as a political force represents a major turning point in modern Turkish history which is not without risks for Erdogan, analysts say, with tens of thousands pouring into the streets every night to protest.

"It may not yet be a dictatorship, but it is well on the way to becoming one," Didier Billion, deputy director of France's Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), told AFP.

"It's clear........

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