The notoriously politicized Turkish Public Prosecutors, apparently acting on the instructions of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have indicted several opponents of the President, seeking to prevent them from taking part in next year’s elections.
The mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, who is seen as one of the most popular opponents of Erdogan, and the leader of the main opposition Republican Party Kemal Kilicdaroglu have already been indicted for speaking ill of Turkey, and under the draconian laws of the country, if convicted, will be banned from taking part in the elections. Last Friday Turkish prosecutors asked the court to jail mayor Imamoglu between 15 months and four years “for insulting members of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council” back in March 2019, when Imamoglu, a member of the Republican Party (CHP), succeeded in narrowly beating an ally of Erdogan and ended AKP’s 20-year control of the municipality of Istanbul.
