Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis has expressed his full support and solidarity for Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and for the people of Turkey.
Bakoyannis, along with the mayors of Florence, Hanover and Paris, made his comments when addressing the event Cities: Democracy and Development on Wednesday. The Eurocities European Network secretary general was also in attendance.
“We stand by Ekrem, we stand by the people of Turkey, we stand on the right side of history. Justice will prevail,” Bakoyannis said at the event.
Bakoyannis’ statement referred to a decision taken by a Turkish court earlier this month sentencing Imamoglu – who leads the main opposition CHP party – to two years in prison and banning him from politics over a press release issued three years ago in which he called members of Turkey’s supreme election council “fools.”
The Istanbul mayor is free pending an appeals court decision, while the sentencing was condemned both domestically and abroad.
For his part, Imamoglu thanked the mayors for expressing their full solidarity.
“I truly believe that democracy will win very quickly in Europe, in Turkey and in Istanbul,” he stressed.
The decision to ban Imamoglu from politics may hamper his ability to run against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in next year’s general election.
Source: Ekathimerini and AMNA.gr.
