The best way to get rid of a political competitor is to send him to jail, with a little help from compliant judges; and to bar him, by the same token, from running for office. That’s what Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan did on March 19. His only serious rival in the 2028 presidential election — Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu — was charged by the police with corruption and complicity in terrorism, and locked up, even before being brought to court.