Istanbul Mayor apos;s apos;insult apos; Trial Resumes Ahead Of Elections
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| - | Istanbul | + | Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu defeated President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ally in a controversial 2019 vote<br> Istanbul's popular opposition mayor faced new hearings Wednesday in a politically-charged trial that could bar him from seeking office months before next year's general election.<br> Prosecutors want to sentence Ekrem Imamoglu to between 15 months and four years in jail over a remark he made after defeating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ally in a hugely controversial 2019 mayoral vote.<br> People who are sentenced to less than four years are rarely put behind bars in Turkey.<br> But a conviction would disqualify Imamoglu -- one of the brightest stars of Turkey's main secular party -- from politics for the duration of the sentence.<br> Imamoglu would continue serving as Istanbul's mayor while his almost certain appeal wound its way through the courts.<br> The mayor's team views the trial as Erdogan's personal vendetta against one of his biggest rivals.<br> "Despite everything, I want to trust the judges, the prosecutors and the decision makers," he said on the eve of Wednesday's third hearing in the trial.<br> The case stems from an offhand remark Imamoglu made to reporters a few months after defeating Erdogan's ally in a re-run election held after his first victory was annulled.<br> Officials reported discovering hundreds of thousands of "suspicious votes" after Erdogan refused to acknowledge Imamoglu's initial win in a city that he himself ran before entering national politics two decades ago.<br> The decision backfired badly on Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party.<br> Waves of protests and [https://systemsdelight.ddns.net/mediawiki/index.php/User:Karolin9045 Lawyer Turkey] a groundswell of support from all political corners delivered Imamoglu an overwhelming victory in a re-run vote held that June.<br> Imamoglu let his frustration at the entire episode spill over a few months later by calling the people who annulled the first vote "idiots".<br> Prosecutors have charged the mayor [https://www.wiklundkurucuk.com/Lawyer-Turkey-il Lawyer Turkey] with the crime of "insulting" public officials.<br> Imamoglu has not personally attended the hearings and [https://www.wiklundkurucuk.com/Lawyer-Turkey-hk Lawyer Turkey] there has been no indication of how long the trial might last.<br> - Divided opposition -<br> Imamoglu's potential disqualification from politics comes with Turkey's opposition parties still arguing about who should stand against Erdogan in next June's presidential vote.<br> The Istanbul mayor is among a handful of opposition leaders that polls show could beat Erdogan in a head-to-head race.<br> Erdogan's domination of Turkish politics has been shaken by an economic crisis made worse by his unconventional approach to interest rates.<br> But more recent polls show Erdogan's ratings beginning to recover thanks to his widely-praised handling of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.<br> This puts even more pressure on the opposition to put aside their personal rivalries in the election campaign.<br> Imamoglu's CHP party is headed by Kemal Kilicdaroglu -- a leftist former civil servant who generally performs poorly in opinion polls.<br> The CHP has been holding round-table talks with five smaller allies about a single candidate who would not split the anti-Erdogan vote.<br> Those talks have been mired by arguments over policy and general unease about fielding Kilicdaroglu instead of someone more likely to beat Erdogan.<br> Imamoglu's legal troubles have effectively disqualified him from the race.<br> He told reporters this week that Kilicdaroglu was the only possible candidate from the CHP.<br> "But at the end of the day it is up to the round-table to make a decision about a single candidate," Imamoglu said.<br><br><br><br><br>For [https://taupi.org/index.php?title=BREAKING_NEWS:_Wout_Weghorst_apos;packs_His_Bags_To_Fly_To_England_apos; Lawyer Turkey] more information about [https://www.wiklundkurucuk.com/Lawyer-Turkey-ch Lawyer Turkey] stop by our own web site. |
