Judicial process on Istanbul mayor not over yet: Turkish president

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - The judicial process on the conviction of Istanbul’s mayor is still ongoing, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday, adding that no political ban for Ekrem Imamoglu has been decided yet.

"The judicial process is not over yet, there is no ban," Erdogan said at an event in the southeastern Mardin province.

"It's about a person's conviction for allegedly insulting judges," Erdogan said about the case.

Erdogan's remarks came after Imamoglu, the Istanbul mayor from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), on Wednesday was sentenced to about two-and-a-half years in prison after being convicted of openly insulting public officials carrying out their duties, referring to the members of the Supreme Election Board (YSK) and its then-head Sadi Guven, during the 2019 process to elect a new mayor.

The Istanbul court also decided to apply Article 53 of the Turkish Penal Code, under which a person who gets a prison sentence for an intentional offense is stripped of certain rights including "undertaking employment as, or in the service of, an appointed or elected public officer."

If an appeals court upholds the decision, it can be appealed at the Court of Cassation, also called the Supreme Court of Appeals. If that court upholds the verdict, it will be the final order, but if it overturns it, a local court will issue a ruling. If the local court insists on the order, the Court of Cassation will have the final say.

The court’s decision has fueled a debate among opposition parties hoping to choose a joint presidential candidate to challenge Erdogan in the next presidential election, set for next June.

"There have been many court decisions that we have criticized harshly," Erdogan said. “But that doesn't give anyone the right to insult judges, or to not recognize court decisions.”

The president also called on the leaders of a six-party opposition alliance to declare their nominee for the upcoming presidential election.