Ekrem İmamoğlu’s Statements Towards YSK Members and Recent Developments
To the members of the Supreme Election Board (YSK) “idiot” He was asked to be banned from politics because he said that Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) President Ekrem İmamoğlu‘s lawyer made a new application to the 3th Criminal Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice, which is evaluating the review of the appeal on September 24. Lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan also added the 49-page opinion prepared by criminal law professor Adem Sözüer and constitutional law associate professor Tolga Şirin to the application. Pehlivan requested that the case be adjourned and the file be sent to the Constitutional Court for a concrete norm review on the grounds that the article of the Turkish Penal Code, which caused İmamoğlu to be sentenced to 2 years, 7 months and 15 days in prison, is unconstitutional.
Claim: ‘The Sentence Will Be Announced Soon’
While the process continues; journalist Altan Sancar, who attended Sözcü He made important statements on the TV broadcast. Regarding the lawsuit filed against İmamoğlu for allegedly calling the members of the Supreme Election Board “idiots”, Sancar made the following statements: “There are preparations. The IMM President will be in power very soon after the appeal. Ekrem İmamoğlu’s sentence will be passed and will be sent to the Supreme Court. This situation is heard from everywhere in Ankara, from the judiciary and from politics. Ekrem İmamoğluWho will be the Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality after ? “This time, this will be thrown as a smoke bomb to the opposition public; either we are heading to a completely different point. There was a debate about whether Erdoğan would appoint a crown prince in his place or not. I do not expect him to indicate a ‘crown prince’ (I put it in quotation marks), in other words, the name that will come after him.”
How Did the ‘Idiot Case’ Begin?
Ekrem İmamoğluIn a speech at the European Council on 30 October 2019, “On March 31, we stood together with 16 million Istanbulites to protect the votes, the ballot boxes and democracy. After standing guard at the ballot boxes for days, the government tried to win the election that it could not win through manipulation by having it annulled by the decision of the Supreme Election Board, which is authorized to manage the elections. However, despite all the power of the government, the strong will of our citizens stood by democracy once again on the night of June 23 with a much louder and stronger voice.” He said. The then Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu responded to these words on November 4, 2019, “Today, when we dismiss those who are tried for terrorism and also sentenced for being terrorists for the sake of the welfare of this country and that town, I say to the fool who went to the European Parliament and complained about Turkey. This nation will make you pay the price for this.” He used expressions like this.
On the same day, İmamoğlu responded to a question asked by a journalist: “I look at the words, to see if they are words, and then I look at the person who says them, to see if they are a man. This is an area where I will not stoop to their level. I would like to make a sentence there, those who cancelled the elections on March 31st and when we look at the things that have happened and ended in terms of where we fall in their eyes in Europe in the world, those who cancelled the elections on March 31st are fools, let them focus on that first.” .
Following İmamoğlu’s words, on November 15, 2019, the Supreme Election Council Presidency’s Election Services Directorate filed a criminal complaint about İmamoğlu’s statements. In the indictment numbered 2021/22456 of the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the victims were listed as the Supreme Election Board members Sadi Güven, Erhan Çiftçi, Faruk Kaymak, İlhan Hanağası, Kürşat Hamurcu, Muharrem Akkaya, Nakiddin Buğday, Refik Eğri, Cengiz Topaktaş, Yunus Aykın and Zeki Yiğit. However, Sadi Güven’s attorney, Lawyer Rafet Ersöz, stated that these words were aimed at those who voted in favor and that there was no statement made against his client. Cengiz Topaktaş and Kürşat Hamurcu also displayed a similar attitude.
In the trial that started on January 10, 2022 at the Istanbul 7th Criminal Court of First Instance, a sentence of 14 years, 2022 months and 2 days was given on December 7, 15. If the appeal court rejects Lawyer Mehmet Pehlivan’s application and the first instance court’s decision is upheld, the case will go to the Supreme Court. If the relevant chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals also decides to approve the decision, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor İmamoğlu will face a “political ban.”
