Istanbul: Imamoglu’s trial for “insulting” resumes as elections approach

The trial of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu – a figure in the Turkish opposition and a rising star of the Turkish political scene when he was elected in 2019 – resumes today and he risks being banned from all political activity ahead of the Turkish elections in June 2023.

During a previous hearing in November, the prosecutor had asked that Imamoglu be sentenced to 15 months to four years in prison for a comment he made that was considered “insulting” members of Turkey’s Electoral Council.

Imamoglu, if convicted, risks being sidelined from political life a few months before the presidential and parliamentary elections.

As of early this morning and as had happened during previous hearings, the area around the court, which is on the Asian side of Istanbul, has been completely closed to traffic and police have cordoned off roads, Agence France-Presse found. .

A member of the social democratic Republican People’s Party (CHP), the main party in opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the 52-year-old mayor considers his trial to be “political”.

“It is really sad that we have reached this point, but I still want to trust the judges,” he said in an interview with the private Turkish television station TV100 yesterday, Tuesday evening.

Imamoglu was targeted by the regime after he inflicted the most humiliating defeat on Erdogan’s party in March 2019, winning the Istanbul mayoralty, which had been held by the ruling AKP party for 25 years.

His election was initially annulled by the government, which was however forced to back down three months later in the face of an electorate mobilization that gave the opposition an even wider victory.

A few months later Ekrem Imamoglu described as “idiots” those who had canceled his first election and because of this description he is being prosecuted by Turkish justice.

“All I did was to respond, giving him his own terms, to the minister of the interior who had called me an idiot,” the mayor argued.

While Imamoglu is at risk of being excluded from politics, the opposition alliance, made up of six parties, including the CHP, has yet to name a common candidate for the presidential election, which is due to be held in six months.

The Istanbul mayor is among the few opposition leaders polled to beat Erdogan, who faces a severe economic crisis and inflation that officially runs at around 85 percent.

But CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu would prefer to run himself, according to numerous observers.

While declaring his support for the leader of his party, Imamoglu has not closed the door on his possible candidacy and assures that “(his) shoulders are capable of carrying all kinds of responsibilities”.

RES-EMP

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