ISTANBUL — A court in Turkey has banned the mayor of Istanbul from politics for years after convicted him of offending state officials, a ruling that could remove a rising star from the faction. opposition, who is seen as a potential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in next year’s elections.
The mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, runs Turkey’s largest city and economic center. He was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison but has not been arrested and will appeal the ruling, his party said. If the ruling comes into effect, he will not have to go to jail because his sentence is below the threshold required for detention under Turkish law.
But he will be removed from his position as mayor and barred from participating in political activities while serving his sentence, including voting, being a member of a political party and running for or holding public office. That could fundamentally destroy the short-term prospects of a leader with a proven track record of winning elections over Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP.
Mr. Imamoglu was charged with insulting public officials, a crime under Turkish law. But his supporters see the case against him as a ruse devised by Mr. Erdogan and his allies to remove an opponent from politics.
“Some people cannot take away the power that people have given them so easily,” Mr. Imamoglu said after the ruling was announced. a video posted on Twitter. “Our struggle becomes stronger.”
Turks are looking forward to parliamentary and presidential elections to be held on or before June to determine the future course of this country of 85 million people, one of the 20 largest economies in the world. world and is a member of NATO.
Mr. Erdogan, as the country’s top politician for nearly two decades and president since 2014, has pushed Turkey towards greater authoritarianism, using his influence. over large areas of the state to strengthen its rule and weaken its rivals. He will be looking to extend his term next year, though standing in the polls have disappeared because of the economic crisis. The Turkish lira has lost a lot of value against the dollar and annual inflation is more than 80%, according to government data.
Alliance of six opposition parties hopes to oust Erdogan and strip him of his parliamentary majority next year, but it has yet to announce a presidential candidate.
Mr. Imamoglu has not spoken publicly about whether he will run for president, but some recent polls suggest he is more popular than Mr. Erdogan. He also has the rare distinction of having defeated Mr. Erdogan’s party for control of Turkey’s largest city twice in the same year.
In March 2019, Mr. Imamoglu defeat Mr. Erdogan’s chosen candidate in Istanbul’s municipal elections, bringing Turkey’s largest opposition party to power in the city for the first time in more than three decades. It was a painful loss for Mr. Erdogan, especially since he grew up in the city and made a political name for himself as mayor before turning to national politics.
Allegations of irregular elections, Mr. Erdogan’s party appeal for and has been licensed to run again. Mr. Imamoglu win toowith an even greater amplitude than the first he had.
The current lawsuit against Mr Imamoglu stems from his public criticism of the government’s decisions in 2019 to remove dozens of mayors from Turkey’s Kurdish minority from their posts. and replace them with state-appointed trustees.
The government accuses those mayors of having ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a Kurdish militant group that has fought against the state and is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Father. The mayors deny the charges and critics see their overthrow as an act that subverts the democratic process.
In a speech, Turkey’s Interior Minister, Suleyman Soylu, called Mr Imamoglu a “fool” for criticizing the dismissal of mayors. Mr. Imamoglu replied that the “idiots” were those who canceled the initial results of the Istanbul mayoral election.
Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council, which oversees the country’s elections, has filed a lawsuit against Imamoglu for insulting state officials. A state prosecutor formally charged Mr. Imamoglu last year.
Critics have accused Mr Erdogan of expanding his influence over the judiciary, allowing him to pressure rulings in his political favour.
in one video messages Posting on Twitter before the sentencing was announced on Wednesday, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of Turkey’s largest opposition party, said that a guilty verdict would prove that Turkish judges colluded with him. Erdogan.
“Any decision other than an acquittal would be a confession of a conspiracy and a palace order,” he said, referring to the presidential palace. “I warn the palace for the last time, take your hands off the judiciary.”
