The Turkish judiciary on Wednesday sentenced the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), to two years and seven months in prison for insulting members of the country’s Supreme Electoral Council (YSK).
A court has thus found the mayor, one of the main political rivals of the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, guilty and has imposed a period of disqualification against him, which could lead to his removal from his position as mayor of Turkey’s largest city.
However, the CHP politician is expected to appeal the court decision, according to reports in the daily ‘Hurriyet’. In previous court hearings, Imamoglu has denied insulting council members and said his words were a response to those of Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, whom he reportedly called an «idiot.»
Imamoglu won the Istanbul mayoralty by a narrow margin in the March 2019 elections, in which he faced an Erdogan ally. The results were rejected by the relevant authorities and, after a new vote was held in June 2019, he won with a larger margin, which was a major setback for the president and the ruling party.
