In a Declaration adopted today following an urgent debate, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe has called on the Turkish authorities to stop prosecuting and detaining elected representatives from opposition parties; release current detainees, including Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mayor of Van and Congress member Abdullah Zeydan; guarantee the rights of the defence and refrain from making extensive use of pre-trial detention when clear evidence of reasonable suspicion is missing.
The Congress expressed deep concern over degradation of the working conditions of local and regional elected representatives and the weakening of fundamental freedoms and the rule of law in Türkiye. This has been marked by the acceleration of dismissals, arrests and prosecutions of opposition mayors on grounds of terrorism and corruption and their replacement, in many cases, by appointed trustees. This practice has been condemned repeatedly by the Congress for being in violation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government.
The Declaration stated that the relentless campaign of judicial harassment targeting Mayor İmamoğlu since his first election in 2019 has been used to restrict his right to stand for elections. Separately, Mr İmamoğlu's pre-trial detention on 23 March was identified by the Congress President as an assault on democracy. Since 2016, close to 150 mayors had already been dismissed and replaced and millions of people have been denied a democratic voice in Türkiye. The arrest of Mr İmamoğlu runs the risk of the more than 16 million citizens of the largest municipality in Europe being administered by a non-elected administrator.
The Declaration also condemned blanket bans on public demonstrations, as used in municipalities where mayors were removed or arrested. This practice highlights that freedom of expression and assembly have suffered from extensive restrictions over recent months as the country has deviated from democratic norms and standards.
The Declaration reaffirmed that local and regional authorities are key to upholding and defending democracy, human rights and rule of law. It underlined the right of local authorities to freely exercise self-government without fear of persecution or retaliation regardless of the political views of their leaders and representatives. This is inherent to the requirement for political pluralism in democratic systems.
The Congress underlined its commitment to pursuing constructive political dialogue with the authorities of Türkiye, notably in the framework of the post-monitoring roadmap and the organisation of a visit of the Congress leadership and the co-rapporteurs on the situation of local democracy in Türkiye; a fact-finding visit to Türkiye will be organised as soon as possible, to seek face-to-face meetings with mayors who have been detained, including Mayor İmamoğlu.
