Erdogan continues to put pressure on his political rivals

Canan Kaftancioglu is a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and one of the emerging figures in Turkish politics. The popularity rates of this 48-year-old doctor turned politician from the Black Sea region are among the highest in Turkey. 

She was the campaign manager of Ekrem Imamoglu, who managed to win the mayorship of Istanbul by winning the local elections to the all-powerful Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP). The president of the Eurasian nation suffered a hard blow in 2019 with the electoral defeat in the local elections, especially in Ankara, the administrative capital of the country, and in Istanbul, the national financial heart. This setback showed Erdogan that he has lost many supporters within the Ottoman nation, particularly among the younger sectors; and from there he intensified certain repressive policies aimed at persecuting opponents and strengthening his power, as various analysts have pointed out. Hundreds of members of rival parties, such as the CHP itself or the People's Democratic Party (HDP), which has close ties to the Kurds (persecuted by the Turkish regime, which accuses them of terrorist acts in the south of the country), and also members of the army and bar associations, were arrested on charges of supporting precisely the Kurdish faction or having links with the cleric Fethullah Gülen, who is accused of instigating the alleged coup d'état of 2016. 

Canan Kaftancioglu had always stood out in the Social Democratic Republican People's Party for her left-wing views, and at the beginning of 2018 she was elected provincial president of Istanbul. Although Kaftancioglu's real breakthrough came one year later, when she led one of the most successful election campaigns in the history of Turkey, that of Ekrem Imamoglu in the Istanbul mayoral elections in March 2019. Few people expected this newcomer to win against the candidate of the ruling AKP, former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim. But, finally, Imamoglu won the elections and became one of the most important figures of the opposition to the government led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

The CHP's focus on reconciliation instead of polarization and radicalization was well received by the voters; while Erdogan's AKP has continued to bet on the opposite and on an increasing Islamization (even the Ottoman presidentialist regime is accused of links with entities classified as terrorists such as the Muslim Brothers). 

The party's decision to condemn nepotism, mismanagement and misuse of public funds proved to be a good strategy during the country's economic crisis; furthermore, many voters grew tired of the arrogance of some politicians in power. Turkey is suffering from a serious economic crisis with the collapse of the Turkish lira and high inflation. 

After Imamoglu won by a small margin, the AKP refused to give in and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put pressure on the election board to ask for a new process. With little effectiveness because the CHP reaffirmed its victory and Erdogan had to acknowledge the defeat in Istanbul. 

Losing the city, the economic and social centre of Turkey with a population of 16 million, was the biggest electoral defeat of the president so far. And the biggest victory of Kaftancioglu, who is now victim of a strong judicial pressure. In September 2019, she was sentenced to almost 10 years in prison after being accused of a series of crimes including defamation, incitement of public hatred and violence for spreading "terrorist propaganda" and insulting the president and the Turkish state, very serious charges against the Turkish doctor and politician. 

According to her supporters, the evidence against her came out of nowhere, largely consisting of a series of tweets she had published between 2012 and 2017. The CHP leaders said that her sentence was an act of revenge for the election debacle in Istanbul. Kaftancioglu denied all charges and appealed the sentence. For the time being, she cannot be imprisoned pending the appeals process.

Meanwhile, the Anatolian Prosecutor's Office has also filed a complaint against another member of the CHP, Suat Özcagdas, for photographing the house of Fahrettin Altun, the director of communications of the Turkish president, in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul. If convicted, he faces five years in prison for "violation of privacy". Özcagdas took the photo as part of efforts to document unauthorized construction on public land.

Kaftancioglu publicly supported Özcagdas on social networks. "Soon they will drown in their immoralities and lies," he tweeted; "Özcagdas was only doing his duty. He carried out an inspection and followed the instructions of the party because the construction is illegal. He will do it again. Those who have something to hide are creating panic. Stay calm, guys," said the CHP leader.

This reinforced the harshness of the State Prosecutor's Office and now she has been charged with "incitement to commit a crime" and "glorification of a crime". So she is asking for ten and a half years in prison if she is found guilty.

Faced with this scenario, Kaftancioglu does not give in to the threats of imprisonment. It has also started to fight against the government by suing the president himself and the Minister of Interior, Süleyman Soylu, for defamation after being defined as "terrorist". Erdogan had accused her of being a militant of a banned radical left group when she supported the protests against the appointment of the new rector of the Bosphorus University in Istanbul, a person closely linked to the ruling AKP and appointed by presidential decree. 

Faced with this legal drift against him, Kaftancioglu has said that Recep Tayyip Erdogan should give evidence of what she calls "ridiculous accusations", implying that the Ottoman president has not overcome the defeat in the local elections in Istanbul.