Turkey Jails Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu Pending Trial
Storyline:World
REUTERS|ISTANBUL: A Turkish court on Sunday jailed President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, pending trial on graft charges, in a move likely to stoke the country’s biggest protests against the government in more than a decade.
The decision to send Imamoglu to jail comes after the main opposition party, European leaders and tens of thousands of protesters criticised the actions against him as politicised and undemocratic.
Imamoglu has denied the charges, calling them “unimaginable accusations and slanders”.
“I am standing tall, I will never bow down,” Imamoglu said on X, calling on supporters not to lose hope. “We will rip away this coup, this dark stain on our democracy all together.”
The government denies that investigations are politically motivated and says courts are independent. It has warned against protests, especially given a nationwide ban on street gatherings that was extended on Saturday for four more days.
As the courtroom developments unfolded early on Sunday, members of Imamoglu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP), the main opposition against Erdogan’s ruling alliance, were preparing to anoint Imamoglu as its candidate for the next presidential election.
He is the only nominee and hundreds of people had flocked to polling stations for the election to show support after the court ruling, after protests and skirmishes with police continued through the night in major cities.
No general election is scheduled until 2028. But if Erdogan, who has led Turkey for 22 years, is to run again, parliament would need to back an earlier election since the president will have reached his limit by that date. Imamoglu is leading Erdogan in some opinion polls