Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu detains for insulting public officials

• Ekrem Imamoglu received a 2.5-year prison sentence.
• He may be prevented from standing for office next year.
• The 52-year-old is one of Erdogan’s biggest opponents.

The mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu was given a prison term of more than two and a half years by a Turkish court for making derogatory remarks against government officials in a speech.

Following his remark that those who cancelled local elections in 2019 were “fools,” Ekrem Imamoglu was charged with the offence.

Imamoglu, 52, defeated a member of the AK Party of Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan to become the city’s mayor.

He might be barred from holding public office or running for president in the next year as a result of his conviction.

Imamoglu, a member of the Republican People’s Party, is regarded as one of the most formidable challengers to Mr. Erdogan in the elections that must be held by next June.

The issue revolves around remarks Imamoglu made following his narrow victory in the municipal election in March 2019.

The election board ordered a rerun after receiving allegations about vote irregularities from the AKP, and the result was declared invalid.

Imamoglu defended his use of the word “fools” to describe those who changed the outcome, claiming that he was reacting to language similar to Suleyman Soylu’s, the interior minister, who had used it earlier.

In June 2019, new elections were held, and Imamoglu won again by garnering 770,000 more votes than his opponent. This put an end to the AKP’s 25-year dominance of Turkey’s largest city.

The decision made on Wednesday must be sustained by an appeals court, but if it is, Imamoglu will no longer be a candidate in the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for next year.

In a video statement released after the court’s verdict, he dismissed the proceedings, saying that a “handful of people cannot take the authority given by the people”.

Supporters of the mayor gathered outside Istanbul’s council buildings after he called for people to gather and show their support, shouting “government resign” and “truth, law and justice”.

Imamoglu is anticipated to file an appeal against the ruling and will remain in office, but the prospect that he would be barred from running for president in Turkey will make it more difficult for the opposition parties to select a candidate to challenge Mr. Erdogan.

According to polls, the mayor of Istanbul is one of a small number of opposition figures who could defeat the incumbent president in a direct contest.

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