Istanbul mayor receives prison sentence

A Turkish court has sentenced Istanbul’s popular mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu to more than two years in prison and barred him from politics for “insulting” electoral officials, jeopardising hopes he could challenge president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in next year’s election.

Judges in Istanbul found the mayor guilty of defaming public servants for allegedly calling the election board “idiots” in 2019 for overturning his narrow win as mayor and forcing him to rerun the election, allegations that İmamoğlu denied.

İmamoğlu called the verdict “a great injustice” in a speech to thousands of supporters waving Turkish flags who had gathered at the city hall to protest against the verdict. “It is the summary of the circumstances to which Turkey has sunk... It is proof that the aim of those running this country is not to bring justice and democracy,” he said.

Opinion polls regularly show İmamoğlu as a leading opposition challenger to Erdoğan in a presidential election due to be held in June. His party, the main opposition Republican People’s party (CHP), has formed an electoral alliance with five other groups that will back a unity candidate whom they have not yet named.

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A long-running economic crisis has shrunk support for Erdoğan’s Justice and Development party (AKP), which has ruled Turkey for 20 years, to historical lows, although it remains the country’s biggest party.

“This trial is the outcome of an ugly effort to cover up our people’s troubles, impoverishment and their many problems from education to justice,” İmamoğlu said at the rally. Without naming him explicitly, he accused Erdoğan of being “the person who made this ruling”.

In the 2019 repeat vote, İmamoğlu defeated Erdogan’s handpicked candidate for Istanbul mayor with a record margin of victory, wresting control of the city of 16 million people from Erdoğan’s political movement for the first time in a quarter of a century.

İmamoğlu drew support beyond the CHP’s secularist base, appealing to nationalists, conservatives and Kurdish voters who were unhappy with Erdoğan’s handling of the economy and his increasingly authoritarian style of rule.

Since then, İmamoğlu has been hamstrung by the central government, which has confiscated municipal assets, blocked loans from state banks and hampered the municipality’s efforts to borrow on foreign bond markets.

İmamoğlu denied he had targeted electoral officials, saying his remarks were directed at the interior minister who had referred to him first as an “idiot”. His party said he would appeal the conviction.

The mayor is not expected to enter prison because his sentence of two years, seven months and 15 days is under three years and may be converted to probation, according to legal experts.

A party spokeswoman said he would remain in office during the appeal process. If he loses that appeal in advance of the election, he will be barred from contesting it.

İmamoğlu’s political fortunes sometimes appear to echo Erdoğan’s. Turkey’s leader rose to national prominence after his election as Istanbul mayor in 1994. He was forced out of office and banned from participating in politics following a conviction in 1998 for “inciting hatred” after publicly reciting a poem, for which he served four months in prison.

The perception that Erdoğan was unjustly prosecuted galvanised voters four years later when his Islamist-rooted party easily won the general election. The ban on Erdoğan was subsequently lifted and he was allowed to enter parliament in a byelection to become prime minister.

Additional reporting by Funja Güler in Ankara

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2022