(AGENPARL) – Fri 05 September 2025 Image
PRESS RELEASE
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
Ref. CG053(2025)
“Silencing youth is silencing democracy” – Council of Europe Congress statement following fact-finding visit to Ankara
“On 5 August 2025, the Congress youth delegate in respect of Türkiye, Enes Hocaoğulları, was arrested, questioned, and placed in detention pending trial. The charges against him – for “publicly disseminating misleading information” – relate specifically to a speech he made during a plenary debate held by the Congress in Strasbourg on 29 March 2025, on dismissals of mayors in Türkiye.
“Against this background, the Congress decided to conduct a fact-finding visit to Türkiye on 4-5 September 2025, in order to hold meetings with the authorities and meet Enes Hocaoğulları in Sincan Prison – where, one month later, he is still detained on remand.
“We thank the Turkish authorities for facilitating our visit, for the open discussion held yesterday with Deputy Minister of Justice Hurşit Yıldırım, and for enabling our delegation to visit Enes Hocaoğulları in Sincan Prison this morning. We very much appreciate the spirit of co-operation and dialogue in which our visit has taken place.
“The reason for our visit is the shocking reality that following a speech made in our hemicycle – the home of pan-European democratic debate – one of our youth delegates has been imprisoned. During our visit we have listened very carefully to the authorities, political parties and representatives of civil society. We are grateful for all of these exchanges.
“The link between Enes Hocaoğulları’s speech, the charges brought against him, his prosecution and his placement in detention, could not be clearer. As a Congress youth delegate and a human rights defender, he spoke in the context of a pluralistic debate in which members of all the major political parties in Türkiye also took the floor. We wish to stress that the activities of Enes Hocaoğulları as a human rights defender and as a Congress youth delegate are protected by international human rights law, including the European Convention on Human Rights. The answer to disagreement must be dialogue – not prison.
“We are here as politicians, not lawyers. But we must say clearly that, after all our exchanges these past two days, we have not heard anything that could justify the criminal prosecution of Enes Hocaoğulları for the words he spoke, nor his placement in pre-trial detention.
“The case-law of the European Court of Human Rights has made clear, over many years, that criminalising the legitimate exercise of free speech has a chilling effect. Not only does it violate the human rights of the individual prosecuted: it weakens democracy and affects society as a whole. Silencing Enes is silencing youth – and silencing youth is silencing democracy itself.
“The first hearing in Enes Hocaoğulları’s trial is on Monday 8 September. We hope that justice will prevail, that all charges will be dropped, that he will be immediately released and that Enes Hocaoğulları will be back at our next session in October.”
Composition of the Congress Delegation
Marc COOLS, President of the Congress
Véronique BERTHOLLE (France, SOC/G/PD), Spokesperson on Youth
Peter DRENTH (Netherlands, EPP/CCE), Deputy Standing Rapporteur on Human Rights
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: Cecilia Dalman Eek (Sweden, 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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