The trial of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu resumes today, with this prominent figure of the Turkish opposition facing removal from office and a four-year ban from political life if convicted, seven months before Turkey’s parliamentary and presidential elections.
The previous hearing on September 21—which Imamoglu did not attend and at which the press was barred from entering—was adjourned very quickly.
Imamoglu, 52, who managed to wrest the politically valuable municipality of the Turkish metropolis from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in two consecutive rounds of voting, is likely the opposition’s best candidate to challenge Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the country’s presidency this coming June.
Imamoglu, a member of the main opposition party, the CHP, faces up to four years in prison for “insulting” members of the Supreme Electoral Council.
In March 2019, his narrow victory in the municipal elections was annulled by the Turkish leadership, which could not accept losing control of the Istanbul mayor’s office. Three months later, Ekrem İmamoğlu won a landslide victory in the municipal election runoff. A few months after his election victory, İmamoğlu declared that those who had annulled his election were “idiots” — echoing the term that Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu had used against him just a few hours earlier.
Kemal Polat’s lawyer denounced the “political trial,” pointing out that any sentence of more than one year in prison for Imamoglu—“ even one year and one day”—would automatically bar him from political life for four years.
Today’s trial is taking place one week after charges were filed against CHP Chairman and potential presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu for “spreading false news.” Under the new legislation on misinformation, Kılıçdaroğlu faces up to three years in prison and, as a result, would be barred from running in the presidential election.
According to the CHP leader, the regime is attempting, through this maneuver, “to prohibit our mayor from engaging in any political activity.”.
“But let me be clear: Imamoglu is a tough nut to crack, and he’ll get stuck in your throat. We won’t let anyone swallow Imamoglu,” Kilicdaroglu pledged.
