The President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Marc Cools, led the first international delegation authorised to meet the Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was imprisoned on 23 March 2025.
In a ‘Declaration’ published on Wednesday 7 May at the end of its visit to Turkey (5 and 6 May), the Congress reaffirmed its view that “it is unacceptable, under the rule of law, to deprive Istanbul of its elected mayor by detaining him without...