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IstanbulMobilization of the Turkish opposition in support of the condemned mayor
Ekrem Imamoglu, mayor of Istanbul and opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was sentenced on Wednesday to 2 years and 7 months in prison and ineligibility. The reaction is strong.
Tens of thousands of people gathered Thursday in Istanbul to support Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, sentenced to prison and deprived of his political rights.
via REUTERS
Several tens of thousands of people gathered Thursday in Istanbul, in the presence of all the leaders of the Turkish opposition, to support the mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, sentenced to prison and deprived of his political rights. The latter, who was sentenced on Wednesday to 2 years and 7 months in prison plus the suspension of his political activities for an equivalent period, addressed the compact crowd, massed in the rain, in front of the headquarters of the Municipality .
“They erased your votes!” he launched in front of a tide of red flags from Turkey. “This is not my trial, but the trial of justice and fairness,” insisted the elected official, ensuring that he was “absolutely not afraid of this illegitimate decision”. “I have no judges to protect me, but I have 16 million Istanbulites and our nation behind me,” he continued, before concluding “Everything will be fine!” – the slogan of his victorious campaign for mayor in 2019.
“Do not give in a millimeter”
This is the first time that the six opposition parties have met in this way in a public meeting since the launch of their common platform to confront President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2023. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the main formation, the CHP, considered as the probable common candidate of the opposition, denounced “a blow dealt to the nation by justice” and promised “not to yield of a millimetre”.
A gathering of several hundred people, according to the Turkish press, was held simultaneously in Trabzon, the hometown of the mayor, on the Black Sea.
serious rival
Ekrem Imamoglu, 52, also a member of the CHP and a rising star in Turkish politics, is also seen as a serious candidate for the opposition, following winning Turkey’s richest and main city from the party of Recep Tayyip Erdogan , the AKP, in May 2919.
He was accused of having “insulted” the members of the electoral college – treated as “idiots” – who had invalidated his victory, before a new ballot confirmed it with a bang three months later. The city councilor, who assured that he had only “returned” the insult to the Minister of the Interior who had, according to him, used this term, announced his intention to appeal.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in power for almost twenty years, announced his candidacy for his own succession next spring, in the context of a severe economic crisis and inflation of more than 84%. The president did not speak, but the leader of the nationalist MHP party, Devlet Bahçeli, a member of the ruling coalition, indicated that “everyone must respect a court decision, whether they like it or not”. A survey by the Metropoll Institute showed, however, on Thursday that even among AKP sympathizers, the judgment once morest Ekrem Imamoglu does not convince: 28% of them see it as “a political affair”, once morest 22% a real lawsuit for defamation. .
Washington “worried” and “disappointed”
(AFP)
