(AGENPARL) - Roma, 6 Febbraio 2026 - (AGENPARL) – Fri 06 February 2026 Image
PRESS RELEASE
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
Ref. CG004(2026)
Council of Europe Congress delegation on high-level visit to Türkiye
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe is the political assembly representing local and regional governments across the 46 member States, responsible for promoting and monitoring local democracy.
The delegation will also include Congress Rapporteur on the situation of local democracy in Türkiye Bryony Rudkin (United Kingdom, SOC/G/PD), Standing Rapporteur on Human Rights Gudrun Mosler-Törnström (Austria, SOC/G/PD) and President of the Group of Independent Experts (GIE) Prof. Angel Moreno.
The delegation will meet the national delegation of Türkiye to the Congress, representatives of the Union of Turkish Municipalities (TBB) and Deputy Minister of Interior Münir Karaloğlu. It will also visit Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu, Mayor of Büyükçekmece and a Congress member Hasan Akgün, as well as former Mayor of Izmir and former Congress Vice-President Tunc Soyer, all three of whom have been arrested and held in detention since 2025.
Composed of two chambers – the Chamber of Local Authorities and the Chamber of Regions – and three committees, the Congress 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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