President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that there is no final decision yet in the judicial conviction of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, fending off criticism that the decision has been political.

In his first direct comments related to Wednesday's conviction of Imamoğlu – who was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison and handed a political ban – Erdoğan said on Saturday that "There's still no final court decision yet. The case will go to the Court of Appeals and the Court of Cassation."

"If the courts have made a mistake, it will be corrected," he said.

"There have been many court rulings that we have harshly criticized ourselves, but that doesn't give anyone the right to insult judges or to ignore court rulings," Erdoğan told a rally in southeast Türkiye’s Mardin.

Imamoğlu was sentenced for "insulting a public official" after calling city election officials "idiots" during a controversial 2019 mayoral race.

The president elaborated that the judicial process is ongoing.

Responding to the opposition’s criticism that the court ruling was politically motivated, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said on Wednesday: "No organ, authority or person can give orders and instructions, send circulars, make recommendations or suggestions to courts and judges in the exercise of judicial power."

"The decision of the Istanbul Anatolian 7th Criminal Court of First Instance is not a final decision. Appeals and cassation against this decision are open. The trial process continues," Bozdağ told Anadolu Agency (AA).

Ömer Çelik, the spokesperson for Türkiye's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), meanwhile said last week that "Through the ongoing judicial process, we see that the opposition is carrying out a lynching campaign against our President and the AK Party. We strongly condemn this campaign."

The AK Party itself has adopted a stance against political bans and the closure of parties as Erdoğan was unjustly removed from office while serving as Istanbul's mayor in the 1990s for reading a poem that the courts deemed to be a violation of Türkiye’s secular laws. Furthermore, it was attempted to be closed and sued in 2008 as it was argued that the AK Party has become the "focus of acts against secularism."

Within a few months, the decision of the Constitutional Court had been announced. Six out of 10 members voted for its closure; a quorum was not reached. Ultimately, it was decided to cut half of the party's treasury revenues.

In the 2011 general election, the AK Party received 49.8% of the vote and won 327 seats in Parliament.

After that period, many statements were made by the AK Party underlining they were against party closures. In 2010 and 2015, some regulations that made it difficult to close a party were introduced under the leadership of the party.

"They're trying to pull us into this game," Erdoğan said further.

Imamoğlu's conviction has turned into a cause of rivalry within the six-party opposition, said Erdoğan.

Erdoğan said he did not care who serves as the opposition candidate for next year's elections.

"How does it matter to us who the opposition candidate will be?" Erdoğan remarked as he urged the opposition to muster "the courage" to name its candidate.

"The whole world knows that everyone at the table has another plan, another intention," he said, stating that the six-party opposition does nothing other than meet every now and then.

"We are sad to see that some are trying to conduct their games of thrones through us," the president added, suggesting reactions to the verdict resulted from rivalries within the opposition.

On the other hand, it has been argued that the ruling has brought into light the political rivalry between opposition politician Meral Akşener, of the center-right Good Party (IP) and main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdardoğlu.

Akşener who joined forces with the CHP in the 2019 municipal elections, traveled to Istanbul from Ankara in a show of support for the mayor when the decision was announced while Kılıçdaroğlu had been on a trip abroad.

The Istanbul court decided to apply Article 53 of the Turkish Penal Code, under which a person who receives a prison sentence for an intentional offense is stripped of certain rights including "undertaking employment as, or in the service of, an appointed or elected public officer."

If an appeals court upholds the decision, it can be appealed at the Court of Cassation, also called the Supreme Court of Appeals. If that court upholds the verdict as well, it will be the final order, but if it overturns it, a local court will issue a ruling. If the local court insists on the order, the Court of Cassation will have the final say.

The court's decision has fueled a debate among opposition parties hoping to choose a joint presidential candidate to challenge Erdoğan in the next presidential election, set for next June.

The mayor denied insulting members of the electoral council, insisting his words were a response to Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu calling him "a fool" and accusing Imamoğlu of criticizing Türkiye during a visit to the European Parliament.

During the trial, the court heard testimony from Imamoğlu’s press officer, Murat Ongun, who confirmed that the mayor’s words were in response to Soylu.

He narrowly won that election over his AK Party rival, former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, and after those results were annulled, he won the rerun of the vote by a comfortable margin.

Voters in Istanbul cast four different votes during the March 31, 2019 elections, electing district administrators, mayors, municipal councils and local officials. Of those four votes, the Supreme Election Council (YSK) ruled to annul only the Istanbul mayoral result.

The board ruled to hold renewed mayoral elections on June 23, 2019. The YSK said its decision to annul the polls was based on unsigned result documents from the election, and some ballot box officials not being civil servants.

Imamoğlu's mayoral victory marked the first time Erdoğan's AK Party and its predecessors had lost in Türkiye's largest city in 25 years.

He is among the names in the mix to run as the opposition's presidential candidate against incumbent Erdoğan in next year's elections.