European Local and Regional authorities demand his immediate release
The Executive Committee of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR), which met online on 21 March, demands the immediate release of the President of the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye and Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Mr Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was taken into custody on 20 March, along with local elected representatives and municipal employees.
AEBR fully supports the statement made public by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions urging European institutions and the international community to show their active solidarity and request an immediate cessation of these actions. The statement can be seen on LinkedIn.
The Secretaries General of the European Committee of the Regions, the Congress of Local And Regional Authorities at the Council of Europe, and the organisations and associations of local and regional authorities (AEBR, AER, ALDA, CEMR, CPMR, Eurocities, etc.) met in the afternoon of 21 March to discuss the situation and agree on joint actions. Being aware of our lack of decision-making capacities, but the relevant influence of broadly distributed common positions and systematic demand, various initiatives have been launched.
The Bureau of the Congress has adopted a draft Declaration on Türkiye to be debated on 27 March during its 48th Session, calling on the Turkish authorities to stop prosecuting and detaining elected representatives from opposition parties, release the current detainees and terminate overly broad limitations of freedoms of assembly and expression, among others.
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