If You Have the Courage, Broadcast the Hearings Live, Imamoglu Wrote on Social Media on Friday

Detained Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said he still backs the demand for live broadcasts of his trial, responding to a challenge from Justice Minister Akin Gurlek. "We stand by what we said on day one. Don't wait.

If you have the courage, broadcast the hearings live, Imamoglu wrote on social media on Friday. Gurlek had asked during a TV100 broadcast on Thursday whether Imamoglu still supported his earlier call for the proceedings to be televised. "Courts are not political arenas.

You cannot put on a political show. There are charges against you and you defend yourself against them, Gurlek said. The minister said Imamoglu had long been turning the courtroom into a political stage and noted that testimony from wiretapped individuals pointed to an internal settling of accounts.

He cited statements by businessman Muzaffer Beyaz, Ertan Yildiz, head of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality assembly's subsidiaries commission, and Adem Kamaloglu, saying Yildiz had explained how money flowed into a system set up by Imamoglu. Gurlek said those witnesses had benefited from effective remorse provisions at the prosecution stage and had repeated the same statements in court. He said tensions between them and the defendant were natural, and that Imamoglu was creating friction over the questions posed by the court and prosecutors.

Imamoglu, head of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, has been in detention. His response came a day after Gurlek's remarks.