Legal obstacles continue to mount for Tayyip Erdogan’s opponent, Ekrem Imamoglu. A Turkish prosecutor has specifically requested that a prison sentence of over 2,000 years be imposed on the Istanbul mayor. He has been imprisoned since March and awaits trial while being accused of corruption, along with his party, the largest in the Turkish opposition. According to the indictment presented by the chief prosecutor of Istanbul, Imamoglu and 401 others are accused of involvement in a corruption network that allegedly caused the state damages of 160 billion Turkish lira ($3.81 billion) over a 10-year period.
It should be recalled that last August, Turkish authorities did not allow European mayors to visit Ekrem Imamoglu in prison. The Turkish Ministry of Justice rejected the request from European mayors who traveled to Istanbul with the purpose of visiting the imprisoned Istanbul mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, at the Silivri prison facilities.
Imamoglu: His message from prison
The mayors from the Eurocities network of European cities and the Balkan Cities Network B40, including Athens mayor Haris Doukas, wanted to express their solidarity with Imamoglu and award him the “Special Democracy Award“.
The award was ultimately received by his wife, Dilek Imamoglu. Represented by Barcelona mayor and Eurocities vice-president Jaume Collboni, the delegation of mayors gathered in front of the Silivri prison as “United European Mayors for the Defense of Democracy“.
Jaume emphasized that the initiative for the visit was undertaken by Ghent mayor and Eurocities president Mathias De Clercq and that the Eurocities network has a very clear duty to develop and defend local democracy, stating that “this duty brought them in front of Silivri prison“.
“As mayors, we know we are on the front line. We produce concrete solutions to real problems and, by doing all this, we prove that democracy can work” he noted.
He then reminded that more than 80 mayors signed the declaration last March condemning Imamoglu’s arrest and said: “We emphatically remind that European mayors speak with one voice. We all raise this common voice together to defend fundamental rights and democratic values“.
Ekrem Imamoglu sent a message from prison for the award ceremony. “This award belongs to all citizens who fight for justice and freedom in Turkey and around the world and do not succumb to authoritarian pressures“, he stated.
