Erdogan removes political rivals
2022.12.14 12:26
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Erdogan removes political rivals
Budrigannews.com – On Wednesday, a Turkish court imposed a political ban on Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, an opposition politician who is thought to be a formidable opponent of President Tayyip Erdogan in the upcoming elections.
Imamoglu was convicted of insulting public officials in a speech he gave after winning the 2019 municipal election in Istanbul. He received a ban and a sentence of two years and seven months in prison, both of which must be confirmed by an appeals court.
A few thousand Imamoglu supporters gathered outside the municipality headquarters on the European side of the city prior to the verdict after Imamoglu requested their gathering via Twitter. They chanted, “Law, justice, truth.”
Despite Imamoglu continuing to work as usual and dismissing the court proceedings, riot police were stationed outside the courthouse across the Bosphorus on the Asian side of the 17 million-person city.
“Such a modest bunch of individuals can’t take the power given by individuals. “With God’s permission, our struggle is beginning to get even stronger,” Imamoglu said in a brief video that was posted on a municipal website.
The ruling comes just six months before the scheduled elections for president and parliament, in which Imamoglu has been rumored to be a leading contender to challenge Erdogan. The primary opposition candidate for the presidency has not yet been selected.
Imamoglu, from the resistance Conservative Individuals’ Party (CHP), was attempted over a discourse after Istanbul races when he said the people who canceled the underlying vote – in which he barely crushed an up-and-comer from Erdogan’s AK Party – were “fools”.
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According to Imamoglu, that comment was made in response to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu’s use of the same slur against him.
He easily won the rerun vote after the initial results were overturned, ending the AKP’s and its Islamist predecessors’ 25-year rule in Turkey’s largest city.
The CHP and other opposition parties’ ability to unite around a single candidate to challenge Erdogan and the AKP, which has ruled Turkey for two decades, is seen as crucial to the outcome of the elections next year.
A political ban or prison sentence would need to be upheld in appeals courts, which could delay the outcome of the case beyond the June election.
Turkish courts, according to critics, follow Erdogan’s orders. The judiciary is said to be independent by the government.
“After the higher court decides whether to uphold the ruling or not, the decision will be final. “It would be wrong to say that the political ban is in place under these conditions,” Atilim University professor of criminal law Timucin Koprulu told Reuters following the ruling.
