A Turkish court today sentenced Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu to prison and banned the opposition politician from political activity, seen as a strong potential challenger to President Tayyip Erdogan in next year’s elections. This means that once the sentence is confirmed, he could be removed from his post as mayor of the Turkish metropolis.
Imamoglu was sentenced to 2 years, 7 months and 15 days in prison for “insulting an official” in a speech he made after winning the local elections in Istanbul in 2019. The sentence is to be upheld by a higher court.
Imamoglu today called the decision political and illegal.
Ahead of the verdict, several thousand Imamoglu supporters gathered outside the commune in the European part of the city after Imamoglu invited them to gather on Twitter. “Truth, Law, Justice,” they sang.
Across the Bosphorus, on the Asian side of the city of 17 million, riot police were stationed outside the courthouse.
“A handful of people cannot take the power given by the people. Our struggle is starting to get stronger, with God’s permission,” Imamoglu said in a short video posted today on the municipality’s website.
The decision comes just six months ahead of scheduled presidential and parliamentary elections in which Imamoglu is a possible main challenger to Erdogan.
Imamoglu, of the opposition Republican People’s Party (RPP), was on trial for a post-election speech in Istanbul when he said those who canceled the initial vote – in which he defeated the ruling party’s candidate – were “ahmats ” (crazy people).
Imamoglu specified that this remark was a response to Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, who had used the same language against him. After the initial results were overturned, he won the runoff, ending the 20-year rule in Turkey’s largest city by the Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by President Erdogan.
Kemal Kulçdaroğlu, president of the RNP, said he was cutting short his visit to Germany and returning to Turkey in response to what he called a “serious breach of law and justice”.
The outcome of next year’s elections is believed to depend on the opposition’s ability to rally around a strong candidate to challenge Erdogan and the AKP, which has ruled Turkey for two decades.
“The decision will be final only after the high court decides whether to uphold it or not. This will take time. Under these circumstances, it would be wrong to say that the political ban is in place,” Timucin Koprulu, a professor of criminal law at Ankara’s Atalum University, told Reuters after the decision.
Sezgin Tanrakulu, an RNP MP, said the court’s decision was “more political than legal”.
European Parliament rapporteur for Turkey, Nacho Sanchez Amor, expressed disbelief at the “unthinkable” phrase.
“Justice in Turkey is in a state of disrepair, grossly used for political purposes. Very sad day,” he tweeted.
