Turkey’s main Erdogan rival Imamoglu in first court appearance since arrest

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who’s Turkey’s biggest rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has appeared in court for the first time since he was arrested last month and placed in a high-security jail.

Imamoglu is being held on corruption and terrorism charges, but appeared in a special court at Silivri jail in a separate case on Friday accused of trying to intimidate Istanbul’s chief prosecutor.

Turkey’s opposition has condemned Imamoglu’s arrest as a “coup attempt against our next president” and his detention has prompted the biggest anti-Erdogan protests in more than a decade.

“I am here because I won elections three times in Istanbul,” Imamoglu told the court.

“I am here under arrest because I won against the notion of ‘Whoever wins Istanbul, wins Turkey’,” he added.

Imamoglu was referring to President Erdogan, who launched his political career as mayor of Turkey’s biggest city and has often used the phrase since.

Crowds gathered outside the complex in support of Istanbul’s mayor, whose detention has been widely viewed as politically motivated. The Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly has called on Turkish authorities to drop the charges and release him immediately.

However, Turkey’s government has rejected claims of political interference, insisting the judiciary is independent.

The 53-year-old mayor faced two hearings on Friday that carry the risk of both a jail term and a ban from politics.

The first case, alleging threats made against Istanbul chief prosecutor Akin Gurlek following the arrest of a district mayor, was adjourned until June.

Gurlek, a former deputy justice minister under Erdogan, has been accused by the opposition of acting as a “mobile guillotine” for the president in targeting his opponents in Istanbul.

Neither case on Friday was related to his 19 March arrest on suspicion of running a criminal organisation and extortion, but prosecutors are seeking a jail term of up to seven years and four months for the Gurlek case.

Imamoglu was also critical of Turkish state broadcaster TRT, which he said was funded by citizens’ taxes and “should broadcast this hearing instead of reporting with lies and slander to discredit me”.

His wife Dilek attended the hearing along with one of their children and several MPs.

She has played a prominent part in the protests that have swept Turkey since Imamoglu’s arrest, and further rallies are planned for the coming days and weeks.

The protests have been accompanied about 2,000 arrests.

In the past two days, the courts in Istanbul have either released or freed on bail 185 people who took part in demonstrations against the mayor’s detention at Sarachane square in Istanbul.

Two journalists working for pro-opposition newspapers were also released on bail on Friday for investigating the sale of a TV station.

One of the newspapers, Cumhuriyet, said their arrests were part of a plan to intimidate the media and critics of the government.

The opposition has accused prosecutors of targeting elected officials in a bid to nullify any opposing voices ahead of national elections.

Presidential elections are not due in Turkey until 2028 and without a change to the constitution Erdogan would not be entitled to stand for another term.

However, he could also run if parliament called early elections.