ISTANBUL—A Turkish court upheld a prison sentence for a prominent leader in the country’s largest opposition party, deepening a clampdown on opponents of President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
as the longtime leader faces a tough re-election next year.
The Court of Cassation in Ankara on Thursday approved an earlier sentence against
Canan Kaftancioglu,
the leader of the Istanbul branch of the Republican People’s Party (CHP). She was sentenced to four years and 11 months in prison on charges of insulting the Turkish Republic and defamation of a public official in connection with her social-media posts, some of which dated to 2013. She will also be banned from participating in politics for nearly five years.
Ms. Kaftancioglu was first sentenced in September 2019, and she appealed. The court on Thursday rejected other charges including incitement and spreading propaganda for a terror group.
“We will never stop, never be disheartened, never grow tired,” Ms. Kaftancioglu said in a message posted on Twitter after the ruling.
Ms. Kaftancioglu, age 50, is a key figure in Turkish politics who is widely credited with helping the opposition wrest control of Istanbul’s city government from Mr. Erdogan’s party in an election in 2019, the ruling party’s most serious defeat in years. She was expected to play a leading role in the campaign of her party, Turkey’s second-largest, in presidential elections slated for June next year.
The court decision comes as Mr. Erdogan faces his toughest re-election fight in nearly two decades of ruling Turkey after his popularity collapsed last year as a result of an economic crisis. Turkey’s currency lost some 45% of its value in less than three months in 2021 after the Turkish president pressured the central bank to cut interest rates despite high inflation. In a survey released earlier in May by MetroPoll,…
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