ISTANBUL (HRNW) – Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu vowed to fight for a democratic revolution after initially being stripped of his victory over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan s ally in a 2019 election that again threatens to prematurely end his political career.
The smooth-talking opposition figure s whopping win in a re-run vote three months later turned him into one of the rising stars threatening to break Erdogan s two-decade domination of Turkish politics.
But an Istanbul criminal court ruled Wednesday that Imamoglu s offhand remark to reporters that the city s election officials were “idiots” was defamatory and sentenced him to nearly three years in jail.
It also barred him from politics for the duration of the sentence.
Imamoglu s has appealed, meaning that he will continue serving as mayor while putting his fate in the hands of judges whose impartially he questions all the time.
The case highlights Imamoglu s struggles since the heady days when he grabbed global attention by showing that Erdogan — who prides himself on never losing an election — was not invincible.