The mayor of Istanbul has been jailed and banned from politics for allegedly insulting state officials. Imamoglu is one of the serious competitors for head of state Erdogan in the upcoming elections. His conviction could unite the opposition.
One day after Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was sentenced, tens of thousands of people in the Turkish metropolis showed their solidarity with him and other opposition politicians. Despite the rain, the crowd gathered in front of the city administration headquarters, including the leaders of six Turkish opposition parties.
The social democrat Imamoglu, who is considered a potential rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and who had been sentenced to two and a half years in prison and a ban on politics for insulting state officials, addressed the flag-waving crowd: “I’m (…) not afraid of their wrongful judgment,” said the 52-year-old CHP politician. “I have no judges to protect me, but I have 16 million Istanbul and our nation behind me.” Imamoglu concluded his speech by saying “Everything will be fine” – the slogan of his successful campaign for mayor in 2019.
It was the first time that the six Turkish opposition parties had come together for a public rally after forming an alliance against the conservative Islamic President Erdogan just over a year ago. Turkey’s presidential election is coming up next year. Not least because of the high inflation and the bad economic data, Erdogan is under heavy pressure. According to Turkish media, hundreds of people also took to the streets in Trabzon in north-eastern Turkey – the hometown of the Istanbul mayor.
The day before, a criminal court had sentenced Imamoglu to more than two years in prison and an equally long political ban for insulting state officials. Imamoglu’s lawyer immediately announced an appeal. As long as the appeal process is ongoing, Imamoglu can remain in office as mayor. However, the appeal could be negotiated at any time and prevent Imamoglu from running for the presidential election next year.
CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who is considered the opposition’s likely joint candidate, called the ruling “a slap against the nation by the judiciary” and promised “not to budge an inch.” The controversial verdict could give new impetus to the difficult cooperation of the heavily fragmented opposition in Turkey. So far, the alliance has not been able to agree on a single candidate to challenge Erdogan’s two-decade rule in the upcoming elections.
Initial polls show that Wednesday’s decision could backfire on Erdogan. Accordingly, even many voters in his Islamic conservative AKP party consider the verdict against the mayor to be “politically” motivated.
The US State Department said it was “deeply concerned and disappointed” at the attempted removal of one of Erdogan’s greatest rivals from the political arena. Germany described the verdict as a “heavy blow to democracy”. France called on Turkey to “reverse its slippage from the rule of law, democracy and respect for fundamental rights”.
