As Erdogan Tries To Sink a Rival, Athens Throws a Life Jacket

Istanbul’s mayor, the leading rival to Tayyip Erdogan ahead of Turkey’s presidential election next year and a man who this month was sentenced to more than two years in prison for “insulting a public official,” will receive a visit from the mayor of Athens on Wednesday. Although that interaction will be happening within the framework of an international parley on the topic of “Cities: Democracy and Development,” the meeting between Ekrem Imamoglou and Kostas Bakoyannis underscores a quiet comity between the historic cities and will serve to raise Mr. Imamoglou’s international profile at a time when Mr. Erdogan is hoping for the opposite. As the Sun has reported, Mr. Imamoglou was convicted of insulting public officials in a speech made after winning Istanbul’s municipal elections in March 2019. That victory was seen as a rebuke of Mr. Erdogan’s own Justice and Development Party, or AKP, which controlled Istanbul for more than 20 years. It was in November 2019 that the Istanbul mayor referred to the officials who tried to subvert the democratic process by annulling the vote as — depending on the translation — idiots or fools.The popular 52-year old politician is still serving as Istanbul’s mayor pending an appeal, so there should in theory be no obstacle to his meeting with the Athens mayor on Wednesday evening. The Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported that Mr. Bakoyannis, 44, was one of the first public figures to contact Mr. Imamoglou after the Turkish courts handed down their sentence. “A truly dark day for Democracy in neighboring Turkey. The decision to deprive a mayor, an ally of peace, justice and universality of his freedom and political rights, causes sadness and anger,” Mr. Bakoyannis said subsequently in a social media post, to which he added, “I am sure that the people and history will vindicate him.”The reaction to Mr. Imamoglou’s predicament from the Department of State was that it was “deeply troubled and disappointed.” Germany said his sentencing was “a heavy blow to democracy.” Mr. Erdogan, according to a report by France24, has told members of his ruling party that foreign powers were trying to use the case to manipulate Turkish politics ahead of the vote. “Are you looking for foreigners who use an individual crime to manipulate politics in our country?” Mr Erdogan rhetorically asked his supporters last week. Relations between Turkey and Greece have soured under the presidency of Mr. Erdogan despite the fact that both Mediterranean countries are important members of the NATO alliance. Complaints about Turkish military overflights of Greek airspace, disputes over maritime boundaries, and ongoing quarrels concerning refugee issues are some major bones of contention. Mr. Erdogan has unhelpfully converted political disagreements into personal animus, forswearing dialogue between himself and the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Unlike Mr. Erdogan, Mr. Mitsotakis is generally regarded as a mild-mannered and level-headed individual. He is also the uncle of Mr. Bakoyannis. It is highly unlikely that Athens would dispatch the mayor of the capital city to Turkey’s largest city for any length of time without the sanction of the prime minister’s office. Even if Mr. Bakoyannis’s brief turn by the Bosphorus is intended as an olive branch of sorts, it may be perceived as a provocation at Ankara. That is partly because 2023 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, which settled the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Allied Powers in the aftermath of World War I. Mr. Erdogan, who has governed Turkey for nearly 20 years, does not relish the prospect of ceding power on the eve of such a momentous anniversary. Since 2003 he has done much to consolidate his power, often ruling with an autocratic tilt. As Turkey’s economy boomed during his first decade in office, his Islamic AK party capably steered growth while also imposing a reactionary social agenda that has typically fared better outside Turkey’s cosmopolitan cities such as Istanbul and Izmir. The media has largely been muzzled, though, and today, following years of regional instability and knock-on effects of the pandemic and war in Ukraine, inflation in Turkey is running at 85 percent. With the general election scheduled for June 18, Mr. Erdogan will be hoping to make it through the next six months unscathed. Yet by conniving to put his opponent on the dock, he has already sparked the ire of many at Istanbul and possibly elsewhere. Although currently in opposition, the Republican People’s Party, to which Mr. Imamoglu belongs, may see its star rise as a consequence.

As Erdogan Tries To Sink a Rival, Athens Throws a Life Jacket

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