{"id":6926,"date":"2025-05-14T13:56:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T13:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/?p=6926"},"modified":"2025-06-04T13:20:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T13:20:14","slug":"ekrem-imamoglu-the-risks-of-weaponizing-jurisdictional-and-police-authorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/ekrem-imamoglu-the-risks-of-weaponizing-jurisdictional-and-police-authorities\/","title":{"rendered":"Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu : les risques de l\u2019instrumentalisation du pouvoir judiciaire et des autorit\u00e9s polici\u00e8res"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu and T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s opposition: justice as a political weapon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 19 March 2025, Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu, Mayor of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and President of the Union of Municipalities of T\u00fcrkiye (UMT), was arrested on charges of \u201ccorruption\u201d and \u201caiding terrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 23 March, Mr \u0130mamo\u011flu was placed in pre-trial detention on corruption charges, together with 47 other suspects. He was also removed from office, along with the district mayors of \u015ei\u015fli and Beylikd\u00fcz\u00fc, who were also detained in connection with the same investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr \u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019s arrest came just four days before he was nominated as the candidate of Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP) for the 2028 presidential election, in a primary in which over 15 million voters participated. In addition, on 18 March, Istanbul University revoked Mr \u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019s university degree, which under the Turkish Constitution, is a prerequisite for running for the country\u2019s presidency. (1)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedom of expression\u2019s under attack<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the arrest of Mayor \u0130mamo\u011flu a wave of protests sparked all across the country an also in Berlin, Stockholm, and Paris (3), involving most of times the large number of migrant population of Turkish nationals in Europe. During this protests, not only protesters but also press organisations and agents came under the attention of T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Council of Europe, on \u201c27 March 2025, a British journalist from the BBC, Mark Lowen, was expelled on grounds of \u2018threat to public order\u2019, 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 T\u00fcrkiye. Moreover, a photograph for Agence France-Presse, Yasin Akg\u00fcl, had been detained for three days, after covering protests in Istanbul. [..] The Turkish Radio and Television supreme Council (RT\u00dcK) 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.\u201d (1)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council of Europe: unanimous condemnation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bureau of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE)\u00a0expressed condemnation against the circumstances under which the arrest of mayor \u0130mamo\u011flu has been carried on. The judgement of the institution was clear, and might be summarized under the Bureau\u2019s words: \u201cBy preventing Mr \u0130mamo\u011flu from standing as a presidential candidate, they also aim to intimidate and obstruct the opposition in T\u00fcrkiye and to limit the Turkish citizens\u2019 free political choice.\u201d (2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Council of Europe\u2019s Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O\u2019Flaherty following the multiple alleged episodes of violence against the protesters carried on by Turkish police forces after the Mayor of Istanbul has been arrested, asked \u201cTurkish authorities to uphold their human rights obligations with regard to respect for freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and media freedom\u201d (5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0President of the\u00a0Congress of Local and Regional Authorities<\/a>\u00a0of the Council of Europe, Marc Cools, issued a strong statement, criticizing the timing of the jurisdictional and administrative acts by saying that \u201cwe urge Istanbul University to reverse this week\u2019s revocation of Mayor \u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019s 1994 diploma. Having a university degree is a requirement for presidential candidates. Taking his away more than thirty years after it was granted, and at the moment he needed it, cannot be a coincidence. The University should give it back. [..] The timing of these actions also puts into question the credibility of charges\u201d (4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Union warns its candidate<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a joint statement issued by High Representative\/Vice-President Kallas and Commissioner Kos, \u201cThe EU urges the Turkish authorities to provide full transparency and to follow due process. As an EU candidate country and long-standing member of the Council of Europe, T\u00fcrkiye is expected to apply the highest democratic standards and practices.\u201d(6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ASSEDEL\u2019s position<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given our values and our work, we follow the opinions expressed by the Council of Europe\u2019s institutions by condemning firmly the circumstances under which the arrests of Mayor \u0130mamo\u011flu, Resul Emrah \u015eahan, Beylikd\u00fcz\u00fc, Mehmet Murat \u00c7alik and the other 106 citizens and public officers detained under the same investigation (1). ASSEDEL also invites the University of Istanbul to revoke their act against dr. Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019s degree. Finally, we invite Turkish government and authorities to abstain from further carrying on situations in which potential violations of the European Convention on Human Rights and other international humanitarian obligations might be detected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOURCES:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Resolution 2597 (2025) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: \u201cThe arrest of the Mayor of Istanbul and the state of democracy and human rights in T\u00fcrkiye\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The Bureau of the Assembly calls for the immediate release of Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu, Mayor of Istanbul (19\/03\/2025)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Homeland elections and the new wave of protests by Turkey\u2019s migrants in Europe, Imren Borsuk (2025)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. \u201cCongress: Mayor \u0130mamo\u011flu\u2019s detention is an assault on democracy; he must be released\u201d Congress of Local and Regional Authorities\u00a0(2025);<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. \u201cTurkish authorities should uphold the right to freedom of assembly and expression in the context of ongoing protests\u201d, Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. \u201cJoint Statement by High Representative\/Vice-President Kallas and Commissioner Kos on the recent events concerning Istanbul Mayor Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu\u201d, European Commission (2025)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu and T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s opposition: justice as a political weapon On 19 March 2025, Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu, Mayor of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6930,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-opinion-eng","category-opinionfr"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WEBPAGE-COVER-TO-USE-1-2.png",2000,1013,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WEBPAGE-COVER-TO-USE-1-2-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WEBPAGE-COVER-TO-USE-1-2-300x152.png",300,152,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WEBPAGE-COVER-TO-USE-1-2-768x389.png",768,389,true],"large":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WEBPAGE-COVER-TO-USE-1-2-1024x519.png",1024,519,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WEBPAGE-COVER-TO-USE-1-2-1536x778.png",1536,778,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WEBPAGE-COVER-TO-USE-1-2.png",2000,1013,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WEBPAGE-COVER-TO-USE-1-2-18x9.png",18,9,true],"inhype-blog-thumb":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WEBPAGE-COVER-TO-USE-1-2-1140x694.png",1140,694,true],"inhype-blog-thumb-grid":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WEBPAGE-COVER-TO-USE-1-2-555x360.png",555,360,true],"inhype-blog-thumb-widget":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WEBPAGE-COVER-TO-USE-1-2-220x180.png",220,180,true],"inhype-blog-thumb-masonry":["https:\/\/assedel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/WEBPAGE-COVER-TO-USE-1-2-360x182.png",360,182,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"assedel","author_link":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/author\/assedel\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu and T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s opposition: justice as a political weapon On 19 March 2025, Ekrem \u0130mamo\u011flu, Mayor of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality...","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6926"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6931,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6926\/revisions\/6931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assedel.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}