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A. Draft resolution
(open)
Report | Doc. 16151 | 08 April 2025
The arrest of the Mayor of Istanbul and the state of democracy and human rights in Türkiye
Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee)
A. Draft resolution 
(open)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”, alongside 106 people, including
the district mayors of Şişli, Resul Emrah Şahan, and Beylikdüzü,
Mehmet Murat Çalik, as well as other local officials, politicians,
journalists and businessmen. On 23 March, Mr İmamoğlu 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 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 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, Istanbul
University revoked Mr İmamoğlu's university degree, which under
the Turkish Constitution, is a prerequisite 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.
Recalling that respect for the will of the people to 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 İzmir. A culminating protest organised by
the CHP took place in Istanbul on 29 March 2025 and gathered 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 Istanbul,
Ankara and İzmir. Numerous protesters also reported that they had been
beaten with batons and kicked while lying on the ground. While the
Ministry of the Interior reported over 150 police officers injured
during the demonstrations, the official number of injured protesters
is unknown. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 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 persons
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 workers while covering
the protests, as well as their arrests 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 medias’ journalists:
on 27 March 2025, a British journalist from the BBC, Mark Lowen,
was expelled on grounds of ‘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 photograph for
Agence France-Presse, Yasin Akgül, had been detained for three days,
after covering 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 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 almost unusable. Furthermore, dozens of people were detained
or subjected to judicial control measures in relation to their social
media posts related to the protests.
8. The Assembly recalls that the rights to freedom of peaceful
assembly and 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: they 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 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 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 is at the origin of the violations of the Convention
found by the European Court of Human Rights in the judgments Kavala, Selahattin Demirtaş (No. 2) and Yüksekdağ Şenoğlu and Others, concerning
the politically-motivated detention of activists and/or politicians.
The Assembly strongly deplores the fact that these judgments still 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 actor 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 surrounding
it. The Assembly also notes with great concern and condemns a pattern
of arrests on spurious charges, including terrorism-related offences,
of anyone who might become a challenger to President Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan and/or criticises 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
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 during
protests and 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 workers detained because
of reporting on protests;
11.9. ensure that journalists can report on public assemblies
freely and safely and to 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 to 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 persons exercising their right to freedom of expression;
11.13.3. refrain from using legal and extra-legal 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 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, recalling the statements of the European Union High
Representative for Foreign Affairs 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 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.