Turkey’s main opposition party rebuffed rumors of a divide between its cautious leader and the high-flying mayor of Istanbul on who should challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the presidential race next year. 

“We are like father and son,” chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu said Tuesday at the meeting of his social democrat Republican People’s Party (CHP) as he pointed to Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul’s popular mayor. Imamoglu traveled to the Turkish capital to meet him and participate in the party’s parliamentary faction meeting. “Imamoglu is not only the son of this party but my own. Therefore, it is my — and our — duty to stand behind him,” he pledged. 

Last week, a court sentenced Imamoglu to two years and seven months in prison for insulting public officials after the 2019 local elections. Though Imamoglu will not serve time in prison as the sentence is shorter than five years, the sentence effectively bars him from political office for the duration. 

If the Court of Appeals and Court of Cassation uphold his conviction, he would need to step down as mayor of Istanbul, the city he took from the clutches of the ruling party three years ago. No one knows how long the appeal will take. It could be concluded before or after Turkey’s parliamentary and presidential elections, due between April and June.