A Turkish court has sentenced Istanbul’s mayor to more than two years in prison and banned him from politics in a move that his supporters described as a politically motivated effort to sideline a high-profile rival of the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Ekrem İmamoğlu was sentenced to two years, seven months and 15 days in prison for calling members of Turkey’s supreme election council “fools” in a press release three years ago.
İmamoğlu did not attend any trial hearings or the sentencing, and is expected to appeal against the ruling. The appeal would allow him to stay in office in the meantime, but he would remain weighed down by court hearings for up to a year and a half as the country heads towards a general election.
The verdict represents the latest step in a crackdown on key figures from the Republican People’s party (CHP), Erdoğan’s main challenger in the vote, which is expected within six months. Earlier this year, Canan Kaftancıoğlu, the head of the CHP’s Istanbul branch, was banned from politics and given a suspended five-year prison sentence on charges of insulting the Republic of Turkey and Erdoğan in tweets accusing him of theft.
In January a court is due to decide whether to ban the majority-Kurdish People’s Democratic party (HDP) from politics.
“The will of 16 million Istanbulites is on trial,” the mayor’s office declared shortly before İmamoğlu’s sentencing. “They are seeking to deprive the mayor of Istanbul of his political rights.”
Afterwards, İmamoğlu addressed supporters who had gathered in front of the town hall building. “This decision is a disgrace for the Turkish judiciary,” he said. “It’s the firmest expression of the fact that the judiciary has been transformed into an instrument to punish dissidents. It’s proof that the rulers of this country have no aim to bring justice and democracy to the country.”
He added: “We will not bow down to this corruption. These kinds of games won’t get in my way – I won’t be dismayed or give up.”
İmamoğlu’s supporters chanted “one day the AKP [Erdoğan’s Justice and Development party] will answer to the people” and “rights, law, justice” as they waved Turkish flags.
“I see it as stealing the votes that millions of people gave of their own free will,” said Türkiye Simge Goorany, 27, an architect. “This does not end here. We will definitely take to the streets, and we’ll make our voices heard online. This is nothing but a pre-election campaign for the AKP to lose power.”
Şehriban Kaynak said: “We are living in a country where there is no law and justice.”
İmamoğlu rode to power on a wave of support in 2019, winning twice, as the original result was annulled by the election council after AKP complaints. In a press release that year, İmamoğlu said: “When we consider what happened back then, the ones who cancelled the March 31 election are fools.” This was the comment that prompted the lawsuit against him.
İmamoğlu’s victory in 2019 gave the CHP control of Turkey’s largest city, which makes up 40% of the country’s GDP, in a symbolic blow to Erdoğan, who formerly held the same position before he was removed for office and jailed for four months for inciting religious hatred.
AKP officials stonewalled İmamoğlu’s mayorship, opposing his efforts to make major changes and starting competing projects to undermine his programme. “All our decisions are being blocked,” İmamoğlu told the Guardian in an interview last May.
The mayor’s supporters gathered in front of the town hall hoped that his ban from politics might eventually prove counterproductive, aiding İmamoğlu’s rise as it did Erdoğan’s.
“This is an injustice – and we want justice,” said Nurşen Çuhacı, 64, another İmamoğlu supporter. “I feel sorry for this decision, but I think it could give him a boost in politics.”