On Thursday 27 March, following an urgent debate, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe adopted a Declaration calling on Turkey to release the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, and the 106 other people arrested at the same time as him or earlier in 2025.
They include mayors (including Abdullah Zeydan, mayor of Van and a member of Congress), deputy mayors, local officials and media and business leaders.
The imprisonment of Mayor İmamoğlu “bore all the hallmarks of political pressure on a figure considered as one of the main candidates in forthcoming presidential elections”, and “runs the risk of the more than 16 million citizens of the largest municipality in Europe being administered by a non-elected administrator”, was the denunciation from Congress.
It therefore calls on the Turkish authorities not only to release the prisoners, but also to abolish the practice of removing mayors in favour of non-elected administrators, to guarantee the rights of the defence and to remove the excessive restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression that hamper political pluralism.
The Congress wishes to continue “pursuing constructive political dialogue with the authorities of Turkey”, including a visit by Congress representatives to discuss the situation of local democracy in Turkey.
A fact-finding visit to meet Ekrem İmamoğlu and others who have been imprisoned is hoped for “as soon as possible”.
Link to the Declaration: https://aeur.eu/f/g51 (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)