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Erdoğan’s far-right ally calls on judiciary to quickly conduct trial of İstanbul mayor

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The leader of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Monday called for a swift start to the trial of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been in pretrial detention since March 23 on corruption charges.

Devlet Bahçeli said the judicial proceedings concerning İmamoğlu, currently held in İstanbul’s Marmara Prison, widely known as Silivri Prison, should be promptly initiated.

“If the suspect is innocent, he should be acquitted; if he is guilty, he should be punished in a way that satisfies the public conscience and without delay,” Bahçeli said in a written statement.

İmamoğlu, a high-profile opposition figure widely seen as a potential challenger to Erdoğan in the next presidential election, was detained on March 19 and arrested four days later. His removal from office has sparked the largest anti-government protests in Turkey since the 2013 Gezi Park demonstrations.

An indictment against İmamoğlu, who faces multiple investigations, has not yet been drafted as part of the investigation that led to his pretrial detention.

While the government claims that the judiciary functions independently, critics and international observers have raised concerns over political interference, describing İmamoğlu’s arrest as an attempt to eliminate Erdoğan’s most powerful rival ahead of the 2028 presidential vote, or an earlier snap election.

Bahçeli, known for his nationalist hardline and deep skepticism of İmamoğlu’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), stopped short of endorsing İmamoğlu’s continued pretrial detention. His call for a speedy trial and reference to due process has been interpreted by some observers as a sign of discomfort within the ruling alliance between Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the MHP.

According to Gönül Tol, head of the Turkish studies program at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, Bahçeli’s call for a quick conclusion to İmamoğlu’s trial is related to his unease about the timing of the mayor’s arrest, which she said has disrupted efforts to pressure the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) into disbanding.

“The wave of protests following the arrest has only deepened the crisis for the ruling alliance,” she wrote on X.

Peace talks were initiated by a surprise call from Bahçeli when he offered jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan a surprise gesture last October if he would reject violence in a move endorsed by Erdoğan.

As a result, Öcalan, the founding leader of the PKK, in February issued a historic call for his group to lay down its arms and disband — a landmark message that was publicly read out in İstanbul.

Founded by Öcalan in 1978, the PKK has waged a decades-long war in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast. The group is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.

Öcalan, 75, has been serving a life sentence without parole on İmralı Island since his arrest in Nairobi in February 1999.

Since his detention there have been various attempts to end the bloodshed that erupted in 1984 and has cost more than 40,000 lives. The last round of talks collapsed in a storm of violence in 2015.

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