İstanbul’s powerful mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, testified to prosecutors on Friday due to his recent criticism of judicial authorities in Turkey, accusing the government of “instrumentalizing” the judiciary to punish its opponents.
İmamoğlu testified to prosecutors as part of two investigations launched into him this month due to his criticism of İstanbul’s chief public prosecutor, Akın Gürlek, and an expert witness, Satılmış Büyükcanayakın, whom he accused of acting on orders from the government to discredit him and other mayors in İstanbul from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
A large crowd gathered in front of the İstanbul Courthouse on Friday morning to demand justice and show their support for İmamoğlu. Among those present were senior officials from the CHP, including Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, along with politicians from various parties across the political spectrum.
Bugün bizi Çağlayan'da yalnız bırakmayan
Başta Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi İstanbul il örgütümüze, Türkiye’nin dört bir yanından gelen partililerimize, değerli milletvekillerimize, parti yöneticilerimize, İYİ Parti, DEM, Saadet Partisi, Gelecek Partisi, Zafer Partisi, DEVA Partisi,… pic.twitter.com/Iq9ythmyj7
— Ekrem İmamoğlu (@ekrem_imamoglu) January 31, 2025
Media reports said İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Gürlek took leave earlier this week before İmamoğlu testified. Gürlek, a former judge notorious for his rulings against government critics, is accused by İmamoğlu and the CHP of using his judicial authority to target the party on orders from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government.
The testimony of İmamoğlu, who was accompanied by three lawyers, lasted one-and-a-half hours. A copy of his testimony, obtained by the T24 news website, showed that the mayor denied the accusations against him, which include threatening, insulting and targeting an official and attempting to influence a trial.
İmamoğlu said only people who are afraid of losing control over the judiciary would be unsettled by his remarks and perceive them as a threat.
“There was no threatening or targeting [of anyone] in my words. What I’m doing is [exercising my] freedom of expression. And freedom of expression is a constitutional right,” İmamoğlu said, adding that freedom of expression also includes criticism of members of the judiciary and the way they use their authority.
Gürlek came under fire from İmamoğlu and other CHP officials for initiating what they call “politically motivated” investigations into the party’s İstanbul mayors over the past several months.
As a result of these investigations, the CHP mayors of the Esenyurt and Beşiktaş districts were arrested and removed from office.
The mayor accused Büyükcanayakın, the expert witness, of being “cherry-picked” by the government and drafting reports against his party in order to sway the court proceedings in trials involving him and other CHP mayors in İstanbul.
In his testimony on Friday İmamoğlu called on the politicians whom he accused of instrumentalizing the judiciary for their own benefit to stop resorting to such methods and to fight honorably.
There are claims that Erdoğan wants to sideline İmamoğlu — the mostly likely candidate to challenge Erdoğan if he tries to seek another term as president — with such operations in CHP municipalities.
However, government officials insist that the courts operate independently and deny claims that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated.
Conspiracy
In his address to the crowd following his testimony, the mayor said the investigations into him were the result of the “politicization of the judiciary” and a “conspiracy” in İstanbul, hinting that the aim of the investigations is to ensure his removal from office.
“We have been experiencing the highest level of judicial harassment in İstanbul for four months, but we will not give up,” İmamoğlu said.
Ankara Mayor Yavaş, who also spoke from the roof of a bus along with İmamoğlu, accused the government of turning Turkey into an “open prison.”
There were confrontations between the police and İmamoğlu’s supporters in front of the courthouse, with police using pepper spray to disperse the group.
The mayor, who is also fighting several other legal cases, had already been sentenced to more than two years in prison and barred from politics in December 2022 for allegedly insulting members of Turkey’s Supreme Election Board (YSK). The mayor faces a political ban if his conviction is upheld by an appeals court.
İmamoğlu, who was re-elected mayor last year, vowed not to give up.
“We will keep fighting injustice,” he said.