İmamoğlu closes four-day defense with 'your time is over'

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu completed his defense, which lasted four days and 21 hours, closing his remarks in the courtroom yesterday with the statement: "Your time is over, victory is near."

In his defense, İmamoğlu argued that the case goes beyond an attempt to remove him from the political stage. "There is no guilt in this courtroom. There is politics in this courtroom, there is the ballot box, there is the people's will," said İmamoğlu, addressing the court panel members directly and asking whether certain decisions were written before the proceedings began: "You as a panel will have to prove this."

In his assessment regarding judicial independence, İmamoğlu used the phrase "The judiciary has been turned into an instrument of pressure," noting that this had happened before and had been overcome. This same court heard the same case in 2022; during that process, İmamoğlu was detained but was subsequently re-elected.

Maintaining his stance throughout his defense, İmamoğlu said: "If we remain silent, history will not. If history remains silent, truth will not." No official timeline has yet been set for when the verdict will be announced; the Chief Public Prosecutor's written opinion on the merits has been entered into the court record.