The arrest of the Mayor of Istanbul and the state of democracy and human rights in Türkiye
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 9 April 2025 (15th sitting) (see Doc. 16151, report of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations
and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring
Committee), co-rapporteurs: Mr Stefan Schennach and Lord David Blencathra). Text adopted by the Assembly on
9 April 2025 (15th sitting).
1. On 19 March 2025, Ekrem İmamoğlu,
Mayor of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and President of the
Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (UMT), was arrested on charges
of “corruption” and “aiding terrorism”, together with 106 people,
including the district mayors of Şişli, Resul Emrah Şahan, and Beylikdüzü,
Mehmet Murat Çalık, as well as other local officials, politicians,
journalists and business people. On 23 March, Mr İmamoğlu was placed
in pretrial detention on corruption charges, together with 47 other
suspects. He was also removed from office, along with the district
mayors of Şişli and Beylikdüzü, who were also detained in connection
with the same investigation.
2. Mr İmamoğlu’s arrest came just four days before he was nominated
as the candidate of the main opposition party, the Republican People’s
Party (CHP), for the 2028 presidential election, in a primary in
which over 15 million voters participated. In addition, on 18 March
2025, Istanbul University revoked Mr İmamoğlu’s university degree,
which is a prerequisite, under the Turkish Constitution, for running
for the country’s presidency.
3. The decision to detain Mr İmamoğlu, the criminal investigation
launched against him and the revocation of his university degree
effectively prevent him from standing as a presidential candidate.
Recognising that respect for the will of the people to freely express
their opinions and choose their elected representatives is the foundation
of democracy, the Parliamentary Assembly expresses its deepest concern
at these decisions, which appear politically motivated and an attempt
to intimidate the opposition, obstruct its actions, stifle pluralism
and limit freedom of political debate.
4. The Assembly notes that the arrest of Mr İmamoğlu triggered
an unprecedented wave of largely peaceful mass protests, primarily
by young people – especially students – across the country, particularly
in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. These protests culminated in a protest
organised by the CHP, which took place in Istanbul on 29 March 2025
and brought together around 2.2 million people, according to the
organisers. The protests in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir took place
despite a blanket ban on demonstrations imposed by the authorities. During
the demonstrations, the police used pepper spray, stun grenades,
plastic bullets and water cannons against the demonstrators, causing
injuries, especially in the three aforementioned cities. Numerous
protesters also reported that they had been beaten with batons and
kicked violently by the police while already lying on the ground.
While the ministry of the interior reported that over 150 police
officers had been injured during the demonstrations, the official
number of injured protesters is unknown. According to the same ministry,
following the protests, almost 2 000 people were arrested and over
300 detained. There have been reports of cases of physical ill-treatment,
unlawful strip-searches, sexual harassment, insults and other human
rights violations against people held in custody.
5. The Assembly strongly condemns the unjustified arrests and
detention of demonstrators, as well as the disproportionate use
of force by the law-enforcement authorities during protests, and
cases of ill-treatment or other human rights violations of people
held in custody. It is also dismayed by the fact that President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described the protests as “street terrorism”.
6. Similarly, the Assembly expresses its concern at reports of
physical attacks against journalists and media professionals who
were covering the protests, as well as their arrest and detention
in connection with their reporting activities. At least 20 local
journalists were physically assaulted by the police or protesters
while covering the protests and at least 10 of them were detained;
some of them have already been released after appeal, pending trial.
The Assembly is also worried about measures targeting foreign media
journalists: on 27 March 2025, a British journalist from the British
Broadcasting Corporation, Mark Lowen, was expelled on grounds of
being a “threat to public order”, after having been detained for
over seventeen hours; and, on 28 March 2025, Swedish journalist
Joakim Medin, who intended to cover the protests, was detained upon
his arrival in Türkiye. Moreover, a photographer for Agence France-Presse,
Yasin Akgül, was detained for three days for having covered protests
in Istanbul.
7. The Assembly also deplores the widespread restrictions of
the right to receive and impart information in the context of these
protests. The Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK)
imposed administrative fines and/or temporary suspensions of up
to ten days on the television channels Halk TV, SZC TV, Tele 1 and
Now TV. In addition, for almost two days after Mr İmamoğlu’s arrest,
access to major social media and messaging applications (including
X, Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp) was temporarily restricted
in Istanbul, with reported bandwidth restrictions and numerous accounts
in Türkiye being blocked and/or made invisible on the orders of
the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, a regulatory body.
During these two days, the internet was thus almost unusable. Furthermore,
dozens of people were detained or subjected to judicial control
measures as a result of their social media posts related to the
protests.
8. The Assembly acknowledges that the rights to freedom of peaceful
assembly and to freedom of expression, which are fundamental to
the conduct of public debate in a well-functioning democracy, may
be restricted only under certain conditions provided for in the
European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5, the Convention),
to which Türkiye is a State party: these restrictions must be prescribed
by law and “necessary in a democratic society”, namely proportionate
to the legitimate aim pursued. A blanket ban on demonstrations is
disproportionate and unjustifiable, while the use of force by law-enforcement
authorities must be strictly necessary and proportionate to that
aim, and those who use it must be held accountable before the law. Journalists
and media outlets should be free to report on issues of public interest,
including protests and other related events, and should not be punished
or harassed for carrying out their journalistic activities. In addition, the
public has the right to receive impartial information about ongoing
protests and all related events.
9. The Assembly also reiterates its previously expressed concerns
about the independence of the judiciary and prosecution services
and about the respect for the right to a fair trial in Türkiye,
voiced in particular in its
Resolution 2459 (2022) “The
honouring of obligations and commitments by Türkiye” and its
Resolution 2518 (2023) “Call
for the immediate release of Osman Kavala”. One of the most problematic
issues in this context is the structure of the Council of Judges
and Prosecutors (HSK), which was recently criticised in an opinion
of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice
Commission) (CDL-AD(2024)041), and which is at the origin of the
violations of the Convention found by the European Court of Human
Rights in the Kavala, Selahattin Demirtaş (No. 2) and Yüksekdağ
Şenoğlu and Others judgments concerning the politically motivated
detention of activists and/or politicians. The Assembly strongly
deplores the fact that these judgments remain unimplemented despite
various calls made by the Committee of Ministers, in the context
of its supervision under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention,
and by the Assembly. The Assembly urges the Turkish authorities
to implement these judgments without delay, in particular by releasing the
applicants and conducting a comprehensive reform of the justice
system to fully guarantee judicial independence, in line with the
recommendations of the Committee of Ministers and the Venice Commission.
10. Türkiye is a State with thousands of years of history and
more than a century of democracy. It is a long-standing member of
the Council of Europe and an important partner in ensuring security,
stability and peace in Europe, and has played an important role
in supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The
Assembly also notes the recent positive developments in the peace
process in the country, following the call on 27 February 2025 by
the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah
Öcalan, for the PKK to lay down its arms and disband. Against this
background, the Assembly is all the more disappointed by the arrest
and detention of Mr İmamoğlu and the worrying events related to
these actions. The Assembly also notes with great concern and condemns
a pattern of arrests on spurious charges, including terrorism-related
offences, of anyone who might challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
and/or criticise the government. All these worrying developments
represent a retreat from democratic values and go against the will
of the Turkish people.
11. Reiterating its previous resolutions on Türkiye, including
Resolution 2459 (2022) and
Resolution 2518 (2023),
the Assembly recalls that Türkiye, as a member State of the Council
of Europe, has committed itself to upholding and promoting democratic
values, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms.
It therefore demands that the authorities implement immediately
all these resolutions as well as the recommendations contained in
the Venice Commission’s opinions concerning Türkiye. Moreover, the Assembly
urges the Turkish authorities to:
11.1 release
Mr İmamoğlu immediately and drop all unfounded charges against him
and others involved in the same investigation;
11.2 repeal the decision of Istanbul University to revoke Mr İmamoğlu’s
university degree;
11.3 fully respect the rights to freedom of expression and
freedom of assembly, as well as other human rights and fundamental
freedoms in the context of the ongoing mass protests;
11.4 stop any disproportionate use of force against protesters
during protests and against those who are held in custody;
11.5 release all protesters who have been detained on unfounded
charges;
11.6 ensure an effective investigation into cases of violence
and other human rights violations by law- enforcement bodies against
protesters during protests and against those who are held in custody;
11.7 with regard to all those detained in connection with the
investigation into Mr İmamoğlu and the protests, ensure that their
right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial court, and
their right to a defence are fully respected, in accordance with
Article 6 of the Convention;
11.8 release all journalists and media professionals detained
for having reported on protests;
11.9 ensure that journalists can report on public assemblies
freely and safely, and remove any obstacles to their work;
11.10 ensure that no more blanket bans on public demonstrations
are imposed;
11.11 create an environment that allows the media to provide
the public with necessary information and report on events, free
from State pressure;
11.12 ensure full access to social media and the internet;
11.13 remove all restrictions on the right to receive and impart
information in the context of protests, in particular to:
11.13.1 repeal all sanctions imposed on broadcasters;
11.13.2 annul all unlawful orders to block social media accounts
of people exercising their right to freedom of expression;
11.13.3 refrain from using legal and extralegal means to exert
pressure on social media platforms to censor online content involving
political discourse;
11.14 end the repression of opposition politicians, civil society
activists and dissenting voices in the media;
11.15 implement all the Venice Commission’s and Assembly’s recommendations
on reforming the electoral framework;
11.16 ensure genuine free and fair elections, in line with international
standards.
12. Finally, noting the statements of the European Union High
Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and its Commissioner
for Enlargement of 19 March 2025, the Council of Europe Commissioner for
Human Rights of 24 March 2025 and the Congress of Local and Regional
Authorities of the Council of Europe of 27 March 2025, the Assembly
calls on all Council of Europe member States, if they have not already done
so, to condemn the arrest and detention of Mr İmamoğlu and the subsequent
reprisals against demonstrators calling for his release.
