ISTANBUL, Dec 17 (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that courts will correct any mistakes in an appeal process after Istanbul’s opposition mayor was given a jail sentence, and in the meantime Turks had no right to ignore legal rulings.
In his first direct comments on Wednesday’s conviction of Ekrem Imamoglu – a popular potential challenger to Erdogan who was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison and handed a political ban – Erdogan said he did not care who will be the opposition candidate in next year’s elections.
Imamoglu was prosecuted for insulting public officials in 2019, Turkey istanbul Lawyer Law Firm when he criticized a decision to cancel the first round of municipal elections that he had won against the 25-year incumbent government of Erdogan’s AK Party.(Reporting by Azra Ceylan; Writing by Jonathan Spicer; editing by John Stonestreet)