Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Sunday officially nominated Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as their candidate for the next presidential election.
Imamoglu polls very well against incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but his big weakness as a candidate is that he is currently in jail pending charges of corruption and aiding a terrorist organization.
“Today, 1,653 million members [1,653,000] of our party voted for the future president of our country, Ekrem Imamoglu. This is the strongest response to the current coup attempt,” declared CHP Chairman Ozgur Ozel on Sunday. CHP supporters have taken to describing Imamoglu’s arrest as a coup against the likely next president of Turkey.
“We also invited citizens to come to our solidarity ballot boxes and vote. We received 13.21 million votes for future President Ekrem. In total, he received more than 14.85 million votes,” Ozel added.
The “solidarity ballot boxes” were a political stunt by CHP to stage what amounted to a mock presidential election and show Imamoglu winning in a landslide. Erdogan’s critics, including many international observers, believe he ordered Imamoglu’s arrest precisely because he knew the CHP nomination process would boost the national profile of the Istanbul mayor.
CHP officials said so many people who are not CHP members flocked to the open ballot boxes that voting had to be extended for 3.5 hours to accommodate them all.
Ozel said the huge turnout for the CHP primary challenged Erdogan’s “legitimacy” and “made early elections inevitable.”
If not called early, the next election is scheduled for 2028. Erdogan must either call the election early or amend the Turkish constitution if he wants to run for re-election again.
“We are challenging you from this square. If you do not let my candidate Imamoglu leave because of fear, we will all compete with you in the elections,” Ozel said from Istanbul.
“He will defeat you at the polls. You will lose,” added Imamoglu’s wife Dilek, taunting Erdogan with inevitable defeat at her husband’s hands.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Monday that 123 police officers have been injured and 1,133 demonstrators arrested during four days of protests in Istanbul, Ankara, and other major cities since Imamoglu was arrested. The government also criticized demonstrators for damaging a historic mosque in Istanbul.
CHP has been criticized by Erdogan, Yerlikaya, and other officials for openly encouraging protests in the streets. Erdogan’s government claims extremists and terrorists have infiltrated the pro-Imamoglu marches.
“The CHP administration did not respond to allegations (against Imamoglu) openly. Now, they are trying to cover up their own political shortcomings and irresponsible attitudes by inviting the youth to the streets,” charged Omer Celik, deputy chair of Erdogan’s AKP party, in a social media post on Monday.
Imamoglu himself called for more protests on Monday, although he cautioned young supporters to avoid fighting with the police. He referred to his nomination on Sunday as the beginning of a “revolution.”
“Stay away from conflicts. Be good to our security forces, police, and people, whom I love very much. Let me see you all with smiling faces this evening. The nation is great,” Imamoglu told his followers.
On Sunday, a Turkish court stripped Imamoglu of his office as mayor of Istanbul and ordered him to be held in prison until he can be tried on corruption charges. He has also been charged with aiding the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), a violent separatist and terrorist organization. Imamoglu denied the charges against him as “unimaginable accusations and slanders.”
“I will stand tall. I will never bow,” Imamoglu said in a message from jail to his supporters on Sunday.
“Together, we will erase this blow to our democracy, this dark stain, once and for all. The days are near when those who orchestrated this dark plot will be held accountable, both in this world and before the Almighty in the hereafter,” he said.
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