The ruling is not final, and Imamoglu is expected to appeal.
Responding to the verdict, Imamoglu, a politician from the main opposition group, the Kemalist Republican People’s Party, said in the mayor’s office that “a handful of people cannot just take away the power given to them by the people. With the help of Allah, we will intensify our fight.”
Upon hearing the news, CHP Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu cut short his trip to Berlin and returned to Turkey.
Even before the verdict was pronounced, Imamoglu called on his supporters to go to the city hall on Twitter. Thousands gathered at his plea.
Bulent Turan, deputy leader of the ruling conservative Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) faction, told reporters that the decision was not final. “We will even go to the Supreme Court,” he said.
He held the mayor of Istanbul responsible for describing in November 2019 those who “invalidated” the results of the local elections in Istanbul in March 2019 as “idiots,” which led, albeit by a narrow margin, to Imamoglu’s victory. According to Imamoglu, he used the term “idiot” because Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu had previously called him that, and his words referred to some politicians from the ruling party calling for the annulment of the result, not to members of the Socialist Shura Council.
The Istanbul round of the 2019 local government elections was repeated in June of that year, alleging irregularities. In the second round, Imamoglu already won a dominant victory.
The city was previously ruled by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a decade and a half.
Presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in Turkey in the second quarter of 2023.
