The trial of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglurepeats itself today, risking a ban on all political activity ahead of Turkey’s June 2023 elections.

During a previous hearing in November, the prosecutor demanded a 15-month to four-year prison sentence for Imamoglu for a remark he made that was considered “offensive” to members of Turkey’s Electoral Council.

Why is Imamoglu being persecuted?

Imamoglu became a target of the regime after inflicting the most humiliating defeat on Erdogan’s party in March 2019, when he won the post of mayor of Istanbul, which the ruling AKP party had held for 25 years.

Initially, his election was annulled by the government, which, however, was forced to back down three months later in the face of an electoral mobilization that gave the opposition an even bigger victory.

A few months later, Ekrem Imamoglu called those who canceled his first election “idiots” and is being prosecuted by Turkish justice for this characterization.

“All I did was respond by giving him my terms to the Home Secretary, who called me an idiot,” the mayor said.

Draconian measures in Istanbul

As of early morning, as during previous hearings, the area around the court, which is located on the Asian side of Istanbul, is completely closed to traffic, and the police cordoned off the roads, according to Agence France-Presse.

A member of the social-democratic Republican People’s Party (CHP), the main opposition party to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the 52-year-old mayor says his trial is “political.”

“It’s really sad that we’ve come to this, but I still want to trust the judges,” he said in an interview with private Turkish TV100 last Tuesday evening.

He called on people to rally at the Istanbul City Hall, regardless of the outcome of the trial

Elections in the background

Imamoglu risks, if convicted, being removed from political life in the months leading up to presidential and parliamentary elections.

At the same time, the six-party opposition alliance, including the CHP, has yet to nominate a single candidate in the presidential elections due in six months.

The mayor of Istanbul is one of the few opposition leaders, with Erdogan in the lead in the polls, who is facing a severe economic crisis and inflation that is officially around 85 percent.

According to numerous observers, CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu would prefer to run himself.

Declaring his support for the leader of his party, Imamoglu did not close the door on his possible candidacy and assures that “(his) shoulders are capable of bearing any responsibility.”

According to APE-MPE, AFP