Istanbul: The opposition in Turkey, still reeling from its electoral loss to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, suffered a fresh setback on Thursday when a court started hearing a case against one of its biggest stars on a charge of tender-rigging.
Less than three weeks after Erdogan defied polling expectations and the expectations of his rivals to win a presidential runoff election and extend his more than two-decade rule, the case against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was launched.
Imamoglu was previously given a sentence of more than two years in prison in 2022 for insulting public officials, and if found guilty in the most recent case, he could receive a sentence of three to seven years in prison as well as a political ban. If that decision is upheld, he would also be subject to a political ban.
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His case was postponed on Thursday to Nov. 30, and the trial is expected to hang over the opposition as it works to reorganise and galvanise disgruntled voters in advance of the March local elections.
At the same time, calls have intensified for Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the Republican People's Party (CHP) leader who was unsuccessfully nominated for president by the opposition.
Although Kilicdaroglu has declined to publicly declare whether he will run for office in the party congress this autumn, he seemed to imply that he might resign after 13 years as the leader of Turkiye's oldest party.
He assured his party's parliamentary group on Tuesday, "Don't you worry, I will fully open the way for change. Kilicdaroglu continued, implying that he could keep the helm for a little longer, "It is the captain's responsibility to take the ship safely back to port."
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Imamoglu, who has demanded "total change," is viewed by many as the most likely candidate to succeed Kilicdaroglu.
Imamoglu cautioned reporters last week, citing the CHP's defeats in the previous three presidential elections, that "we can't make the mistake of doing the same things and continuing on our path."
Kilicdaroglu's position is up for grabs, though, and the choice will be made based on who can garner the most support from the party.
According to Tanju Tosun, a political science professor at Ege University, the CHP's internal conflicts may overshadow its efforts to win the local elections scheduled for next year.
"Candidates from the ruling AK Party (AKP) could defeat opposition candidates in many cities if the internal divisions within the CHP persist until local elections," he claimed.
Imamoglu won the Istanbul mayoral elections in 2019, handing Erdogan's AKP their biggest loss since taking office in 2002. Imamoglu immediately became a hot topic in domestic politics.
Many of Imamoglu's cases are seen as an effort to obstruct Erdogan politically, according to Erdogan's detractors who claim that he has rigged Turkish courts to suit his needs. This is denied by Erdogan and his AK Party.
Imamoglu's attorney, Kemal Polat, claimed that the allegations in the case of tender rigging on Thursday were unfounded and might be used by politicians to gain political advantage.
"The prepared indictment is legally devoid. The Council of State ceased its investigation into the acts detailed in the indictment, according to Polat.
The CHP and other opposition parties it worked with in 2019 to secure the victory in Istanbul will also need to decide whether they will come together once more for local elections scheduled for March 2024 as Imamoglu's five-year term comes to an end.
The chances of a new alliance are hampered by last month's defeat, which also included the center-nationalist IYI Party performing worse than anticipated in parliamentary elections.
According to reports, the IYI Party may ask the CHP to support its candidate in some major cities, much like in 2019, but this time in CHP strongholds.
In the western cities of Balikesir and Denizli in 2019, the CHP endorsed IYI Party candidates; however, at the time, they were unsuccessful in defeating AKP candidates.
The pro-Kurdish Green Left Party, also known as the YSP, is still essential to winning local elections after they assisted the CHP in capturing Ankara and Istanbul in 2019 by failing to field candidates.
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However, party officials have indicated that they might not employ that tactic in 2017 as a result of a decline in support during the elections last month.
Meral Danis Bestas, a senior YSP official, stated that "YSP may field candidates" (in Istanbul and Ankara).
"Our party base has harshly criticised us for not fielding a candidate in the presidential elections."