The leader of Türkiye’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Devlet Bahçeli, has accused the opposition of using the recent sentencing of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu from the Republican People's Party (CHP) to gain political points.
On Wednesday, Imamoğlu was handed a sentence of two years, seven months and 15 days after being convicted of "openly insulting public officials working as a committee for their duties" in a speech he made about a repeat of the 2019 mayoral election, which marked the first time President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its predecessors had lost in Türkiye’s largest city in 25 years.
Imamoğlu consistently denied all charges against him.
Wednesday’s verdict sparked a backlash from the opposition and its six-party bloc, the Nation Alliance led by the CHP, called supporters out into the streets and held a rally in Istanbul’s Saraçhane district to denounce the decision through Wednesday and Thursday.
In a written statement released late Thursday, Bahçeli, also partners with Erdoğan under the banner of the People’s Alliance, described the aftermath of the court’s ruling as "a fuse that not only enflamed the political scene but also stoked many nonsensical debates, thus, encouraged opportunists."
The MHP leader went on to argue that the opposition’s rally was a "preplanned categorical operation" devised to target CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu as Türkiye inches closer to the 2023 elections.
"The desperate clinging of those who don’t take kindly to Kılıçdaroğlu’s candidacy onto the Saraçhane riot, the Good Party (IP) chair’s joyous embracing of Imamoğlu and their ravings about how ‘this song won’t end here’ are total trickery," Bahçeli said, referring to opposition politician Meral Akşener, the head of one of the CHP’s Nation Alliance partners, the IP.
Akşener traveled to Istanbul from Ankara in a show of support for Imamoğlu in the wake of the verdict while Kılıçdaroğlu had to cut short a visit to Germany and return to Türkiye to stand with his fellow party member.
Bahçeli pointed out that efforts to "bypass" Kılıçdaroğlu while he was in Germany through "foul moves" represented "unmistakable cunningness and conspiracy" on the part of the bloc.
He claimed the "accumulated and honed objections" to Kılıçdaroğlu within the six-party bloc were "exposed on stage" by Imamoğlu and Akşener in Saraçhane.
The opposition's "table for six plus one" has failed to produce a presidential candidate despite convening eight times this year, Bahçeli said, arguing that it has reached the point where it has to make a decision, echoing his previous calls to the CHP leader and his alliance to announce a rival to Erdoğan in the presidential race.
He also slammed the opposition’s accusations about the judicial system as "unfair and wrong."
"Our people who gathered in Saraçhane or those who are siding with the Nation Alliance expect the bloc to declare their presidential candidate today," Bahçeli stressed.
"It’s an urgent and democratic need for the alliance to reveal their candidate at their moved-up ninth meeting. Our people want an end to this charade and company of exploitation. They want the abuse of law and democracy to be terminated. The Nation Alliance must conclude this business today," Bahçeli asserted.
The party chair also commented on the parallels being drawn between Imamoğlu’s current situation and the injustices Erdoğan faced while serving in the same office during the 1990s. Erdoğan was removed as Istanbul mayor for reading a poem the courts deemed to be a violation of Türkiye’s secular laws before returning as prime minister with a landslide win a few years later. Akşener also recalled the instance while speaking at the Saraçhane rally on Wednesday.
Bahçeli described the comparison as "an eclipse of reason and an advanced bizarreness."
He said the court ruling wasn’t yet "set in stone" and Imamoğlu still had the option to file for an appeal. "It’s fraudulent to set up a tempest in a teapot, shouting claims of a coup while this concrete fact is out in the open. No one in Türkiye has privilege before the law. Even if the verdict is disliked, the decision of the law must be respected," Bahçeli concluded.
While Kılıçdaroğlu has previously said he would accept if the Nation Alliance were to nominate him as a presidential candidate, Imamoğlu also emerged as a top nominee for the position, with Akşener in particular including the Istanbul mayor in all alliance processes and publicly voicing her support for him during the trial period.
The next presidential and parliamentary elections in Türkiye are expected to be held in June next year.