(AGENPARL) – mar 18 febbraio 2025 Image
PRESS RELEASE
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
Ref. CG005(2025)
Dismissal of Mayor of Van: Statement by Congress co-Rapporteurs on local democracy in Türkiye
Strasbourg, 18/02/2025 – David Eray (Switzerland, EPP/CCE) and Bryony Rudkin (United Kingdom, SOC/G/PD), co-Rapporteurs of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe on local democracy in Türkiye, have made the following statement:
“The recent dismissal of Abdullah Zeydan, Mayor of the Metropolitan municipality of Van – member of the Turkish delegation to the Congress- and his replacement by an appointed official is a matter of grave concern. It cannot be ignored.
“Mr Zeydan’s mandate had been challenged by a provincial electoral board decision on 2 April 2024, but was subsequently reinstated by Türkiye’s Supreme Election Council.  This newest move against him is the last link in a chain of deliberate and calculated delegitimisation.
“Sadly, it is also part of a wider and undemocratic pattern. 
“We will bring these latest developments to the attention of the Congress Monitoring Committee on 25 February 2025 in Strasbourg, where we will have an exchange of views with members of the Turkish delegation attending the meeting. In the meantime, we reiterate our call to the Turkish authorities to stop this practice and resume the political dialogue with the Congress rapporteurs to ensure the effective implementation of past recommendations.”
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
Communication Unit
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is an institution of the Council of Europe, responsible for strengthening local and regional democracy in its 46 member states. Composed of two chambers – the Chamber of Local Authorities and the Chamber of Regions – and three committees, it brings together 612 elected officials representing more than 130 000 local and regional authorities.
President of the Congress: Marc Cools (Belgium, ILDG), President of the Chamber of Local Authorities: Bernd Vöhringer (Germany, EPP/CCE), President of the Chamber of Regions: Tunç Soyer (Türkiye, SOC/G/PD).
Political groups: Group of Socialists, Greens and Progressive Democrats (SOC/G/PD), Group of the European Peoples Party (EPP/CCE), Independent Liberal and Democratic Group (ILDG), European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR).
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