(AGENPARL) – Tue 25 March 2025 European Parliament
Bruxelles, March 25, 2025
Ambassador Faruk Kaymakci
Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Türkiye to the EU
Dear Ambassador Faruk Kayrnakci,
the detention of the Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu on March 19 on charges of
alleged crimes of corruption and terrorism, has caused us great dismay and amazement.
Ekrem Imamoglu is known and esteemed in Europe as a popular politician and an
upright and appreciated administrator.
The demonstrations in Turkish and European cities that have continued every day since
the day of his arrest with hundreds of thousands of people, as well as his election in the
primaries of the CHP party as a candidate for the Presidency of Turkey with 15 million
citizens voting, demonstrate the feeling of strong opposition and criticism of the Turkish
people towards an act that clearly appears to be the result of an authoritarian
management of power in Turkey.
In addition to this, it is necessary to mention the 1100 arrests carried out by the police
among the demonstrators, mostly young, with motivations that – according to the
international media – appear to be completely unjustified.
These facts seem to confirm the data of the World Justice Project, according to which
Turkey has fallen to 117th place out of 142 countries in the global rule oflaw index.
As members of the European Parliament we have paid always great attention to an
important partner country of the European Union such as Turkey, recognizing its
strategic role at both political and economic level in the Mediterranean area and in
Euro-Asian relations.
Precisely for this reason, in light of the declarations of recent years by President
Erdogan regarding the intention to resume negotiations for Turkey’s entry into the EU
and in any case to strengthen relations with the Union (main trading partner), we ask
ourselves whether these serious events do not seriously compromise the progress of
relations with the European institutions, to the detriment of the Turkish people and the
peoples of the Union.
Furthermore, the acts of repression of the demonstrations raise serious questions about
respect for human rights, given that Turkey, as a long-standing member of the Council
of Europe, is a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and is
bound by the provisions and jurisprudence of the ECHR.
For all these reasons, Mr. Ambassador, we express to you our deepest and most sincere
disappointment at the arrest of the Mayor and opposition leader Ekrem Imamoglu, and
our concern for the degeneration of the democratic system and the rule of law in
Türkiye.
We ask you to intervene with your Government to express our grievances for what is
happening these days and for the risks that all this entails for your country, in particular
with regard to relations with the European Union.
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European Parliament
As members of the European Parliament, we will carry out every possible political
action to obtain the interruption of these illiberal and antidemocratic acts.
Confident in your kind response and interest, we extend our most distinguished regards
Nicola Zingaretti
Javier Moreno Sanchez
Nora Mebarek
Dario Nardella
Lucia Annunziata
Brando Benifei
Stefano Bonaccini
Annalisa Corrado
Antonio Decaro
Giorgio Gori
Elisabetta Gualmini
Camilla Laureti
Giuseppe Lupo
Pierfrancesco Maran
Alessandra Moretti
Pina Piciemo
Matteo Ricci
Sandro Ruotolo
Cecilia Strada
Marco Tarquinio
Irene Tinagli
Raffaele Topo
Alessandro Zan