Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that the courts would correct any mistakes in an appeal process after the jailing of Istanbul’s opposition mayor, and in the meantime Turks had no right to ignore legal rulings.
In his first direct comments on Wednesday’s conviction of Ekrem Imamoglu — a potential challenger to Erdogan who was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison and handed a political ban — Erdogan said he did not care who is the opposition candidate in next year’s elections.
Imamoglu was prosecuted for insulting public officials in 2019, when he criticised a decision to cancel the first round of municipal elections that he won against the 25-year govt of Erdogan’s AK Party.
“There’s still no final court decision yet. The case will go to the Court of Appeals and the Court of Cassation,” Erdogan said.—Reuters
