The Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu was put on trial for having insulted a public official. He was accused of calling the ones who canceled the Istanbul mayoral election of March 2019 "fools". The first hearing was in January 2022 and in December 2022 he was sentenced to 2 years 7 months and 15 days imprisonment and given a political ban in accordance with Article 53 of the Turkish Criminal Code. İmamoğlu appealed the verdict and as long as he is pending trial, he can stay in office.

Background

Ekrem İmamoğlu won the mayoral elections of Istanbul in March and June 2019. The first victory in March was canceled by the High Election Board (YSK) and a new election an organized for June. This election Imamoglu won again, that time with a larger margin. In November 2019 Imamoglu answered a question of reporter over the Minister of the Interior calling him a "fool" for criticizing the dismissal of elected mayors of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) and their replacement with appointed trustees before the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

. He answered that the responsables for cancelling the first mayoral elections of Istanbul in March 2019 were "foolish" as it would tarnish the international reputation of Turkey. In May 2021, Ekrem İmamoğlu was indicted for insulting public officials.

Trial

The first hearing took place on 10 January 2022 in Istanbul. He defended himself that the "fool" part was not directed at the members of the YSK but at the Minister of the Interior Süleyman Soylu who had used the word "fool" to describe him. He also stated that he was of the view that it was not the electoral board who ordered the election to be canceled but the Government of Turkey. The hearing in June was deferred to September 2022. The one in September to November and in December 2022, the Court sentenced İmamoğlu to 2 years 7 months and 15 days imprisonment and a political ban according to Article 53 of the Turkish Criminal Law. A few days before the verdict, a Judge of the court was sent to an other court in the countryside and replaced. Ekrem İmamoğlu appealed the verdict.

Reception

Several politicians condemned the verdict. Thousands of people held a rally in front of the Istanbul Municipality in support of İmamoğlu. The trial drew wide international condemnation and European mayors gathered at Istanbul in a show of support. The former President Abdullah Gül called the ruling an injustice to İmamoğlu but also to Turkey. According to a survey on the sentence, the majority of the surveyed also the voters for the ruling

Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and Dev ...

(AKP), and also international observers see it as a politically motivated verdict in support the

electoral campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...

of the current

Turkish President The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Cumhurbaşkanı), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national govern ...

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline 2022 controversies 2022 in politics 2022 in Istanbul 2020s trials January 2022 events in Turkey December 2022 events in Turkey Trials in Turkey Political controversies in Turkey Political repression in Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan controversies