Prosecutor appeals to correct court decision against Istanbul Mayor

ANKARA

An Istanbul prosecutor has appealed to a higher court for a change and correction of a verdict issued by the first instance court against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu that imposes a political ban as well as more than a two-and-half year prison sentence.

The appeal by the prosecutor was made just a day after the court sentenced İmamoğlu to two years and seven months in prison on charges of insulting members of the Supreme Election Board (YSK). The court also imposed a political ban against İmamoğlu who has been serving Türkiye’s biggest metropolitan with more than 16 million people since mid-2019.

The motive of the prosecutor’s appeal was not immediately clear. A petition signed by him cites “some errors and deficiencies” concerning the court verdict against Imamoğlu. The Istanbul Mayor is also planning to appeal but he will wait for the release of the reasoning of the court decision.

Sources close to Mayor İmamoğlu claimed that the prosecutor’s move was aiming to expedite the appeal process so that he can be removed from his office before the elections in mid-June 2023. Legal experts, however, rejected this interpretation, stressing the appeal court will follow the necessary procedures.

The court’s decision, however, continues to stir Turkish politics with opponent sides criticizing each other. A massive protest rally organized by İmamoğlu late on Dec. 15 in Istanbul brought the leaders of six political parties of the Nation Alliance together for the first time at a public event. The leaders voiced their support to the Istanbul mayor with vows to stay united against the government.

Bahçeli slams the Nation Alliance

Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and closest ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, criticized the leaders of the oppositional Nation Alliance for holding a joint protest against the court case although the verdict was not finalized yet.

“The Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is not an untouchable and privileged person. Politicizing an unfinalized court decision through mobilizing the public opinion is a grave attack on the principles of justice and law,” he said.

Ömer Çelik, the spokesman of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) criticized the opposition parties for blaming the government over the court decision. “There is a deliberate lynch attempt against our party,” he said, stressing that the courts in Türkiye are independent.