Canan Kaftancioglu, a leftwing leading Turkish politician who challenged the ruling Islamist AKP’s power during 2019’s mayoral campaign has been banned from politics.
Kaftancioglu has been sentenced to 4 years 11 months in prison for insulting “the President of Turkey” via her tweets in 2013 and 2014.
Kaftancioglu was expecting this sentence for sometime since she is a key figure in the Republican People’s Party (CHP) as a chair. She said that it is time to raise the hope (political promise) which can be achieved through organising and this sentence will act as another challenge for Erdogan and his circles.
This political ban for Kaftancioglu is no doubt a reprisal for the regime which lost the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) to the opposition.
Judicial crackdown on political opponents will make Erdogan’s job easier in the coming presidential elections.
In response CHP has called for an urgent executive board assembly to decide the political roadmap. Analists and leading progressive figures argue that opposition is at a historical crossroad.
