The voice was loud and the words fiery, coming from a rage in his heart. His face, worn by a thousand wrinkles, with calloused hands stretched out towards the law enforcement officers. Impetuous and inconsolable, Bayram cried out "treason" and "injustice."

The 63-year-old father of five, a modest pensioner and former street porter – a hamal in Turkish – in various Istanbul districts, was here in front of the Esenyurt municipality building on October 30 to protest the arrest of the mayor of this popular megalopolis' outlying district – the country's largest electoral constituency with around one million inhabitants. For five days, he has been pounding the pavement in his worn midnight-blue suit, simple but dignified, like a last vestige of a Turkey of yesteryear.

Bayram is angry because his mayor, Ahmet Özer – "a man of science, can you imagine!" – has been removed from office because of alleged links with a terrorist organization. "He's a politician of long standing, a public figure of Kurdish origin respected by all," he said. "This whole accusation is a load of rubbish, the usual cliché when the powers that be want to get rid of an adversary." In his voice, there was a mixture of certainty and an appeal to common sense: "If he's so guilty, how is it that he was able to take part in the elections without the authorities finding fault with him?"

Elected in March in a historic victory for the opposition, Özer, candidate of the center-left Republican People's Party (CHP), beat his opponent from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), founded by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has ruled the country for over 20 years, by a wide margin.

The little man straightened up and caught his breath. "I'm deeply attached to our Republic, but I can't stand it being mistreated like this. With the crisis and inflation, we can no longer buy anything. Justice, health and education no longer work. And the slightest criticism can land you in prison. Turkey has never been so rogue."

Listening to him, he recalled the country's entire recent history. He mentioned the figure of president Turgut Özal (1927-1993), the man behind the country's liberal shift; Süleyman Demirel (1924-2015), the populist and pragmatist, the steward of all alliances; Abdullah Gül, Erdoğan's former ally, who was president from 2007 to 2014 before shutting himself away in discreet opposition. "I can't keep my mouth shut," said Bayram. "Everything that's happening is dramatic, and that's why I'm here, on this stretch of sidewalk, where Turkish democracy, or what's left of it, is at stake."

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