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The mass protests triggered by Ekrem İmamoğlu’s arrest come as the EU tries to deepen its engagement with Turkey over Syria and Ukraine.
The arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, raises questions about Turkey’s “adherence to its long-established democratic tradition,” the European Commission has said in reaction, stopping short of an explicit condemnation.İmamoğlu has been jailed pending trial.”As an EU candidate, Türkiye must uphold democratic values. The rights of elected officials, as well as the right of peaceful demonstration, need to be fully respected,” a Commission spokesperson said on Monday.”We want Türkiye to remain anchored to Europe, but it requires a clear commitment to democratic norms and practices. And it’s key that Türkiye respects those fundamental principles,” the spokesperson added.Turkish authorities jailed İmamoğlu on Sunday after having charged him with corruption, extortion, bribery and money laundering, as well as aiding a terrorist group over his electoral alliance with a pro-Kurdish party. İmamoğlu and his lawyers have vigorously refuted the accusations, calling them fabricated and politically motivated. The Interior Minister later removed him from his office as a “temporary measure”.”Today, Türkiye woke up to a profound betrayal. The ongoing judicial process is far from being fair – it is an execution without trial,” İmamoğlu wrote on social media.İmamoğlu’s detention has sparked days of consecutive mass protests across Turkey, described as the largest demonstrations in more than a decade. A member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), İmamoğlu was considered a top contender for the 2028 presidential election. In a primary held on Sunday, days after the arrest, he was chosen as the CHP’s lead candidate with the votes of 1.7 million party members and 13.2 million non-party members.CHP is the second largest party in the Turkish parliament after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AK Party. Erdoğan is term-bound and not allowed to run again in 2018, although the constitution could be amended to enable a third term.The opposition has described İmamoğlu’s imprisonment as an act of retaliation from Erdoğan to derail the electoral hopes of his biggest challenger. The government rejects this accusation and insists that Turkey’s courts operate independently.The Council of Europe, a human rights organisation based in Strasbourg, has condemned İmamoğlu’s arrest and demanded his “immediate release”.”This is a calculated move aimed at undermining the integrity and fairness of electoral processes and amounts to an assault on democracy,” the president of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Marc Cools, said in a statement, adding the charges of corruption and terrorism “appear to be a sham”.The French Foreign Minister was also highly critical, speaking of a “serious attack on democracy” and urging Turkey to abide by the legal “commitments” it has “freely entered into” as an EU candidate country.The German Foreign Ministry described the arrest as a setback for democracy. “Political competition must not be conducted through courts and prisons,” a spokesperson said. “We expect the allegations to be transparently investigated as quickly as possible and for proceedings to be conducted on the basis of the rule of law.”Gradual rapprochementBut in the European Commission’s press room, the reaction was notably more restrained, reflecting the tightrope that Brussels is trying to walk with Ankara.Turkey’s strategic importance for the bloc has been amplified by two recent geopolitical developments: the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the negotiations launched by Donald Trump to end Russia’s war on Ukraine. President Erdoğan has expressed a keen interest in the coalition of the willing that France and the United Kingdom have established to provide security guarantees for Kyiv and safeguard a potential settlement with Moscow. Turkey has the second-largest military in NATO and enjoys a strategically valuable location in the Black Sea. Erdoğan has taken part in several virtual meetings with European leaders, most recently on Friday, when he was briefed by Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission; António Costa, the president of the European Council; and High Representative Kaja Kallas about the results of an EU summit in Brussels. Additionally, the European Commission plans to hold two high-level dialogues with Turkey in the coming weeks focused on the economy and migration. Asked if İmamoğlu’s imprisonment and the mass protests would make Brussels reconsider its rapprochement with Ankara, a Commission spokesperson said: “We are following very closely the situation in Türkiye, but I would not be able to tell you more on what it means for our engagement at this stage. Our position is very clear.”Turkey was declared a candidate country in 1999 but its accession has been derailed by democratic backsliding and concerns about the bloc’s “absorption capacity”. Negotiations were officially put on hold in 2018, two years after a coup d’état attempt that saw Erdoğan strengthen his grip on power and stifle opposition voices.In its latest enlargement report, the Commission identified numerous shortcomings and a widespread lack of reforms in the area of democracy and fundamental rights.”The presidential system continues to be characterised by a lack of checks and balances,” the report said. “The government’s pressure on mayors from opposition parties continued to weaken local democracy.”
