The European Commission on Monday urged Ankara to “uphold democratic values,” as Turkish authorities escalate a crackdown against the opposition and free media.
Popular opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu was arrested Sunday on corruption charges and booted out of his office as Istanbul mayor. Protests have now roiled Turkey for nearly a week, since President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s police first detained İmamoğlu, and authorities have locked up more than a thousand demonstrators and detained journalists.
“The arrest of the mayor İmamoğlu and the protesters give rise to the questions regarding Turkey’s adherence to its long-established democratic traditions,” said Commission spokesperson Guillaume Mercier.
“As a Council of Europe [the international human rights organization] member and EU candidate, Turkey must uphold democratic values. The rights of elected officials as well as right of peaceful demonstration need to be fully respected,” he added.
However, the spokesperson said that at this stage he “will not speculate on possible cancellations” of high-level dialogues between the EU and Turkey scheduled for April.
İmamoğlu, a highly popular secularist who was widely viewed as a contender to oust Erdoğan, was on Monday officially nominated as a presidential candidate by opposition — despite being jailed on Sunday.
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