The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe has called for the immediate release of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, criticising his arrest and the increased pressure on Turkey’s political opposition.
In an emergency session, members stated that the policy of electing trustee mayors in Turkey was undermining the state of democracy in the country and democratic values were being ignored.
In a statement, Turkey rapporteurs David Eray of Switzerland and Bryony Rudkin of the UK confirmed that they will send a fact-finding mission to Turkey “as soon as possible”, and would request a face-to-face meeting with Ekrem İmamoğlu and other detained mayors.
Marc Cools, the President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities had previously condemned the arrest of İmamoğlu and called for his “immediate release” in a statement on 23 March. He said:
“The imprisonment of İmamoğlu at a time when he should have been elected as his party’s presidential candidate is not about justice, but entirely about politics. This is a calculated manoeuvre aimed at undermining the integrity and fairness of the election process and is an attack on democracy.”
At the session, Tahir Büyükakın, Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality Mayor and a member of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) criticised the statement, saying “The law works in Turkey, the judicial process continues and we will not allow perception operations created by distorting the truth.”
