(Bloomberg) — Turkish authorities have launched an investigation into Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s biggest political rivals.
Istanbul’s public prosecutor’s office accused Imamoglu of making “threatening” statements against Istanbul’s chief prosecutor Akin Glurek and his family, Anadolu state agency said. Gurrek most recently served as Erdogan’s deputy justice minister.
In his post on X, Imamoglu denied accusations that his words were meant as a threat.
This is the latest in a series of investigations targeting the Republican Party, the country’s largest opposition party and Imammoğlu’s political stronghold. The Istanbul mayor defeated the president’s party in 2019 and became Erdogan’s most prominent rival again last year. He secured a second term in March, but opinion polls showed the narrow margin would make it impossible to defeat him.
Turkey’s Justice Minister Tunku Aydin defended the investigation, saying comments threatening judicial officials were “unacceptable.” The investigation came just hours after Imamoglu accused Gurrek of briefly detaining a fellow politician for threatening behavior.
“You issued a detention warrant for Cem Aydin. You raided his house. Your aim is to intimidate,” Imamoglu said on Monday. “I say to you, Attorney General, that in order to save even your children from this kind of treatment, we will remove your controlling spirit from the hearts of this nation.”
The Turkish government has increased its scrutiny of opposition-held municipalities after suffering heavy losses in major cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Recently, municipal bank accounts have been frozen due to social security debts, hampering the municipality’s ability to operate.
The Istanbul mayor is also facing another lawsuit in which he is accused of insulting a member of Turkey’s election authorities. In the 2019 election, Imammoğlu’s victory was initially rescinded, forcing him to run again. A prominent Turkish opposition figure faces a ban from political activity if his initial sentence of two years and seven months in prison is upheld by a higher appeals court.
(Updated to add Minister of Justice’s statement from the third paragraph)
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