Turkish President Rechep Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival Ekrem Imamoglu has been sentenced to 20 months in jail for insulting a government lawyer. Imamoglu is the former mayor of Istanbul who has been kept in custody since March. Imamoglu’s popularity against Erdogan in Türkiye was constantly increasing and critics say that his arrest and punishment is now inspired by politics.
Imamoglu’s 20 -month prison case is related to one of his remarks. Some time ago the police raided the house of a young leader of Imamoglu’s party Republican People’s Party (CHP). Regarding the raid, Imamoglu had allegedly said that the mind of Istanbul’s chief advocate Akin Gurlek is ‘rotten’.
The court verdict in this case was pronounced in the high security cylivory court and jail premises located near Istanbul on Wednesday, where politically sensitive cases are often heard. Imamoglu was acquitted of the allegations in another case of targeting the officials involved in anti-terrorism operations.
Imamoglu opposed to Turkish President Erdogan is in custody since March
55 -year -old Imamoglu has been in custody since March and he is under trial on corruption charges. He has denied all the allegations and claimed that these cases are inspired by politics.
Imamoglu says that he is being kept in jail by implicating false charges because President Erdogan wants to keep him away from the 2028 presidential election. But the Turkish government says that the judiciary of the country is independent and they do not interfere in it in any way.
Protests in Türkiye to arrest Imamoglu
Imamoglu was elected the mayor of Istanbul for the first time in 2019 and on seeing it, he became increasingly popular in the country. In 2024, when he was elected Mayor of Istanbul again, it was believed that Imamoglu is the leader who can defeat the long -standing President Erdogan in the elections. Meanwhile, he was arrested on 19 March and then he was temporarily suspended from the post.
The arrest of Imamoglu caused large -scale disturbance in Türkiye. There were clashes between protesters and police in many cities including Istanbul and Ankara. Erdogan accused the opposition of spreading unrest and damaging the country’s economy.
Government lawyers had initially demanded a punishment of more than seven years for Imamoglu and banning their posts. However, he has been sentenced to 20 months, which is not sufficient to permanently remove from the post. If the court had sentenced him to at least two years, then his post would be sustained permanently.
This is not the first time Imamoglu has faced legal problems for his comments. In 2022, he was sentenced to two years and six months in jail for criticizing the election board officials.
After this sentence, the victory of his mayor post in 2019 was canceled. Appeal is still going on on that decision. If this decision remains intact, it can prevent them from participating in future elections. In March, Istanbul University canceled Imamoglu’s diploma. Due to the cancellation of the diploma, he will not be able to contest the 2028 presidential election.
Erdogan has been in power in Türkiye since 2003
Justice and Development Party (AKP) chief Rechpe Tayyip Erdogan has been holding his hold on Türkiye’s power since 2003. Erdogan with Islamic image became Prime Minister of Türkiye in 2004. Erdogan became President in 2014 and since then he is considered to be a unanimous rule over Türkiye’s power.
If Erdogan wants to contest the election of the President again, he will have to amend the Constitution of Türkiye for this, which is a very difficult process.
The resentment among the people of Turkish has also increased a lot and people are liking new faces, in which the biggest name is Imamoglu. In view of this, Erdogan has started crushing his opponents and it is believed that Imamoglu has been sentenced to jail in this sequence.
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