Will Ekrem Imamoglu be heading to prison or the position of president? This image is credited to Onur Dogman, through SOPA Images, for LightRocket using Getty Images. A court in Turkey made a decision on December. A sentence of two years and seven months was imposed on Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu for insulting public officials, stemming from remarks he stated back in 2016. The effects of the ruling in the appeals court will be seen in the Turkish presidential election in a few months. Should the court confirm Imamoglu’s judicial record as a result of his supposedly labeling Turkey’s leading electoral council as “fools” in 2019, he will be denied the ability to participate in public office. The court ruling benefits President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in two ways. Firstly, he will regain control of Istanbul, and secondly, it could stop his strongest opposition from running in the 2024 election. It remains unclear whether the decision was motivated by political means or something else, but Erdogan is probably mindful that it may not go as his opponents hopes. The Turkish president’s path to control of the political sphere commenced with his winning the election for mayor of Istanbul in 1994. At the time, those in control of Turkish political affairs, who were mainly secularists, feared the emergence of Erdogan’s explicitly religious views, so put him in jail for four months after he was found guilty of stirring up religious animosity as a result of a discourse he had given.
