ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a potential rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in next year’s presidential election in Turkey, was sentenced on Wednesday to two years and seven months in prison and a ineligibility for insulting officials.
The decision, which Ekrem Imamoglu called “political and illegitimate”, has yet to be upheld on appeal, which could take several weeks or months. The election is due to take place by June 2023.
The opposition has so far chosen no common candidate but Ekrem Imamoglu, due to his popularity, is considered a potentially dangerous rival for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in power for nearly twenty years.
Coming from Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Ekrem Imamoglu in a speech described as “fools” the electoral officials who had annulled his narrow victory in the March 2019 municipal elections at the expense of of the candidate of the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party).
In a new election held three months later, he won the mayor’s office by a wide margin, ending 25 years of AKP rule over the city of 17 million.
He faced up to four years in prison.
Before the verdict, several thousand supporters of Ekrem Imamoglu gathered in front of the town hall, at the call of the latter, chanting “Truth, right, justice”.
Police in riot gear were deployed outside the court, while Imamoglu ostensibly continued to work, ignoring the legal process.
“A handful of people cannot take back the authority given by the people. Our struggle is called to become even greater, with the help of God,” he said in a short video posted on the site of the municipality.
While opponents of Erdogan denounce justice at the boot of the Turkish president, the Turkish government affirms that justice is independent.
“The judgment will only be final once the appeals courts have decided whether or not to uphold the decision. In these circumstances, it would be wrong to say that a political ban is in place,” said Timucin Koprulu, professor in Criminal Law from Atilim University in Ankara.
(Report Ali Kucukgocmen and Ece Toksabay; French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Blandine Hénault)