 leader Devlet Bahçeli, Erdoğan’s far-right ally, on Tuesday expressed support for a proposal by the main opposition to have the trial of jailed #İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu aired live on the state broadcaster.){kind=link}
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s far-right ally, on Tuesday expressed support for a proposal by the main opposition to have the trial of jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu aired live on the state broadcaster.
Speaking during his party’s weekly parliamentary group meeting, Bahçeli called the proposal “reasonable and legitimate,” adding that if there is strong public interest in the case, “the black sheep should be exposed to the nation’s conscience” so that “the truth can come to light before the public.”
His remarks came days after Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel urged the government to allow TRT to televise İmamoğlu’s trial live, citing the case’s immense public significance and the need to ensure fair proceedings amid accusations of political interference.
İmamoğlu, the CHP’s 2028 presidential candidate and a leading rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was detained on March 19 and formally arrested on March 23 over alleged corruption and links to a municipal tender-rigging scheme. His arrest sparked the country’s largest protests in over a decade and was followed by the detention of several other CHP mayors and municipal officials.
While Bahçeli is a staunch ally of Erdoğan and a vocal critic of the CHP, his tacit approval of a live broadcast reflects both the public salience of the case and growing calls from various sectors for judicial transparency.
“If there is nothing to hide, let it be seen and heard,” Bahçeli said. “Let the court proceedings be open to the nation. Let no one doubt the impartiality of justice.”
Turkey allowed live broadcasts of courtroom proceedings through the 1990s, most notably during the 1999 sentencing of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, which was aired on national networks.
The practice was formally ended with the 2005 Criminal Procedure Code, which prohibits all audio and video recordings or live transmissions from courtrooms. Since then, Turkish trials have remained open only to in-person observers, with all forms of broadcast coverage banned by law.