Istanbul, June 17 (IANS) A Turkish court in Istanbul on Tuesday ordered the release of Umit Ozdag, leader of the nationalist Victory Party, five months after he was jailed on charges of inciting public hatred.

Ozdag was arrested in January, accused of using social media to stir anti-refugee unrest in the central province of Kayseri last year.

In its ruling on Tuesday, the court sentenced him to two years, four months and three days in prison for “inciting hatred and hostility or degrading the public,” but ordered his release, crediting the 148 days he had already served in pre-trial detention.

Speaking outside Marmara Prison in Istanbul following his release, Ozdag denied the charges. His case has drawn significant public attention.

The unrest in Kayseri erupted on June 30, 2024, after reports that a Syrian man had sexually abused a young girl. Crowds attacked homes, shops and vehicles belonging to Syrians. The violence spread to other cities, with more than 1,000 people arrested nationwide, according to officials.

Ozdag’s Victory Party, founded in 2021, campaigns against illegal migration and advocates for the return of migrants to their home countries. Turkey currently hosts more than four million registered migrants, most of them Syrians, according to government data.

In March, Turkish security forces arrested over 1100 people, including several journalists, as protests against the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the arch-rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a potential presidential election contender, intensified in the historic city.

Imamoglu was re-elected for a second term as Mayor of Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, after his decisive victory in the local elections held in 2024, over his rival Murat Kurum, a candidate from the ruling Justice and Development Party.

The popular 53-year-old has been widely seen as the only politician who could defeat Turkey’s longtime leader Erdogan at the ballot box. In just a few days, he went from being the Mayor of Istanbul to being arrested, interrogated, jailed, and stripped of his duties as Mayor as a result of a graft and terror probe.

–IANS

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