Thousands of Turks gathered in a square in central Istanbul today, Thursday, in solidarity with the opposition mayor of the city, Ekrem Imamoglu, who was issued a judicial decision against him, preventing him from practicing politics, before the presidential elections scheduled for next year.
Yesterday, Wednesday, a criminal court sentenced Ekrem Imamoglu to more than two years in prison, and prevented him from practicing politics for the same period, on charges of "insulting members of the Supreme Election Commission in 2019."
Earlier today, Davutoglu announced his rejection of the judicial decision against him, stressing that he would confront the "coup against the will of the people."
For his part, Oglu's lawyer confirmed that he would appeal the verdict, which means that he would remain in the position of mayor, but he is now excluded from the presidential elections scheduled for next year.
The US State Department expressed its "great alarm and disappointment" at the prospect of excluding one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's biggest rivals from the political scene.
Germany described the decision as a "harsh blow to democracy," while France urged Turkey to correct "its deviation from the rule of law and democracy, and respect for fundamental rights."
Turkish opposition
It comes six months before an election in which the Turkish opposition is putting its best foot forward to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has ruled the country for 20 years, while a jail sentence against Davutoglu has raised the risk of a presidential struggle between opposition poles.
Turkey's fractious opposition is struggling to unite behind a single candidate to challenge Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey for two decades, in the upcoming elections.
However, the leader of the "Republican People's" party, Kamal Kilicdaroglu, is still pressing hard for the candidacy, and the shares of Meral Aksener, the leader of the "Good Party", rose to run for the competition.
Imamoglu and six opposition party leaders marched side by side in a crowd of supporters in a rally meant to show defiance to Erdogan.
Imamoglu addressed the crowd, saying, "I am not at all afraid of their illegitimate rule," adding, "I do not have judges to protect me, but behind me are 16 million Istanbulites and our nation."
A Metropoll poll showed that even voters of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party believe the case against the Istanbul mayor is "politically motivated".
The poll found that 28.3% of AKP voters believe that "the issue is politicized," while 24.2% believe that it is related to "defamation."
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