In the ruling of the Istanbul court, Imamoglu is also prohibited from carrying out political activity, but the mayor of Istanbul has the opportunity to appeal this decision in several appeals, which he also promised to do, he writes Reuters. Imamoglu represents the secular opposition Republican People’s Party (cogeneration), and has regularly criticized both Erdogan and the Islamists he leads Justice and Development Party (AK extension), who has been in power in Turkey for twenty years.
“The court verdict is yet another proof that those in power in this country have no desire to ensure that justice and democracy are respected in Turkey. They are not fighting honestly or bravely, but are using all kinds of cunning methods just to keep power in their hands,” the mayor said, addressing several thousand supporters at the municipality building. He stressed that the judiciary in Turkey is far from independent, but it dances on Erdogan’s pedestal. The only the purpose of this completely fabricated and ridiculous criminal case is Erdogan’s desire to get rid of a strong rival in next year’s elections.Imamoglu recalled that in 2019 he managed to beat the 25-year-old AK extension domination in Istanbul and currently, while Turkey is gripped by an economic crisis (annual inflation has already reached 84%), Erdogan fears that something similar could happen again on a national scale.
Elections will be held in June and the secular opposition parties have agreed in principle to nominate a unified presidential candidate to face Erdogan. The decision on choosing this candidate is expected to be made next spring, some time before the start of the pre-election campaign, and Imamoglu has been considered a leading contender. But now the situation has become more complicated, because there are no longer any guarantees that he will not be excluded from the political game by June. In general, Turkish courts act slowly and under normal circumstances it would take at least a year to process all appeals, but the ruling would not take effect during that time. But the opposition fears that it is within Erdogan’s power to rush the court and get his decision made shortly before the elections. In that case, if Imamoglu is nominated as candidate, but the court upholds the current ruling, Erdogan will be unrivaled in the elections.
The scandalous verdict is related to the March 2019 municipal elections in Istanbul. After narrowly defeating Imamoglu in the mayoral election AK extension candidate, this party filed a complaint about various irregularities during the election, and the Supreme Electoral Council annulled the results. It was then that Imamoglu mentioned both “stupidity” and “fools” in his comments. Istanbul mayor’s defenders point out that he addressed these statements to Interior Minister Silaimans Soilu, who previously reacted harshly to Imamoglu’s speech in the European Parliament and to criticism of the Turkish judicial system, calling Imamoglu a fool. It is interesting that Imamoglu won the repeated mayoral elections of Istanbul much more convincingly.
