By Dogan Tiliç
Ankara (EFE).- The Turkish social democratic CHP opposition party achieved two legal victories on Friday, an acquittal and the dismissal of a lawsuit, amid a barrage of cases against party members, including the imprisoned mayor of Istanbul, and a new one today for alleged espionage.
On Friday, the Ankara court’s ruling came as a relief to the CHP because the court dismissed the prosecutor’s demand to cancel the 2023 congress, which would have led to the removal of the current party leader, Özgür Özel.
The court deemed the accusations of alleged irregularities in Congress unfounded.
The CHP, the main rival of the ruling Islamist AKP party of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, thus avoided a complicated internal reorganization after being accused of vote buying and delegate transfer at Congress two years ago.
After being confirmed as leader of the social democrats, Özgür Özel stated, «The purpose of the lawsuits was to make people question the CHP. The court ruled on the merits and declared that the case lacks foundation.»
The politician expressed confidence that they will prevail in court and held the government accountable for fabricating accusations against other party members, especially the dismissed and imprisoned mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu.
A new accusation: espionage
However, almost simultaneously, new accusations emerged against the CHP: Turkish police arrested the director of TELE1, an essential opposition television channel, in connection with an alleged espionage case involving Israel and two armed groups, including the Kurdish guerrilla PKK.
A statement from the Istanbul Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed that the journalist was taken into custody as part of an «espionage» investigation.
Prosecutors allege that the individuals in question worked for Imamoglu’s election campaign and transmitted voter information collected during the candidacy process to foreign intelligence agencies.
After the accusations became public, Imamoglu (considered Erdogan’s main rival in the upcoming presidential election) described the case as «a slander, a lie, and a conspiracy that not even the devil would think of.»
«We are facing an indescribable and shameful immorality. What kind of ambition is this? What kind of greed for power? What kind of fear and despair?» the politician wrote on the social platform X from prison.
The popular leader accused the government of trying to manipulate public opinion after failing to discredit him with accusations of corruption, terrorism, and more.
«They tried to link Imamoglu to terrorism, but people said, ‘That’s nonsense.’ They accused him of theft and failed to convince anyone. Now they say, ‘Espionage.’ When they can’t do anything else, what’s the easiest thing to do? Launch an espionage accusation and build a narrative around it. But that’s shameful and dishonorable. They haven’t tried anything more defamatory; now it’s espionage,» said Özgür Özel.
An acquittal
On Friday afternoon, Imamoglu was acquitted in an alleged bid-rigging case. An Istanbul court ruled that «the legal elements of the crime were not proven,» clearing the dismissed mayor and six other defendants of charges.
The trial opened in June 2023 after the Ministry of Interior filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office for alleged fraud in a 2015 tender when the man, now imprisoned, was mayor of the Istanbul district of Beylikdüzü.
Since the CHP won the most votes in the local elections in March 2024, 15 CHP mayors have been arrested, 12 of whom were from Istanbul province.
Özel considered that the government is attempting to «eliminate the party with the best chance of winning the next elections and the presidency through the judiciary,» a claim that the government denies, citing the independence of the Turkish justice system.
Although Turkey’s next presidential and parliamentary elections are not scheduled until 2028, Erdogan would need to move them forward to be eligible to run again as a presidential candidate. EFE
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