On Recent dismissals and arrests of mayors in Türkiye

B100100/2025

Motion for a European Parliament resolution on Recent dismissals and arrests of mayors in Türkiye

(2025/2546(RSP))

The European Parliament,

having regard to Rule 150 of its Rules of Procedure,

whereas after the 2024 municipal elections the Interior Ministry has ordered the appointment of “trustees” in place of eight mayors and municipalities from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party, DEM (Ahmet Türk, Gülistan Sönük, Mehmet Karayılan, Cevdet Konak, Ayvaz Hazır removed in November 2024; Sıddık Akış removed in June 2024; and Hoşyar Sarıyıldız and Sofya Alağaş removed in January 2025), and two Kurdish mayors elected from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP (Ahmet Özer, removed in October 2024 and Mustafa Sarıgül, removed in November); whereas two DEM mayors and one CHP mayor are currently in detention; whereas these actions have been widely criticized as politically motivated;

whereas Riza Akpolat, the mayor of Istanbul's Besiktas district and a member of the CHP, has been controversially detained on allegations of tender rigging; whereas Ekrem Imamoglu, Mayor of Istanbul, is facing multiple legal challenges and faces possible political disqualification if his conviction for allegedly insulting members of Türkiye's high electoral board, is upheld;

whereas these cases are part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent and undermine democratic processes; whereas the replacement of mayors with “trustees” has happened twice before, first in the period 2016-17 and then in 2019;

Deplores the serious backsliding on fundamental freedoms, the human rights situation in Türkiye and the continued erosion of democracy and the rule of law;

Calls on the authorities to cease the practice of removing mayors and appointing trustees which eliminate the Kurds' right to vote, to be elected and to representation, and is a violation of the right to free and fair elections and erode local democracy; urges the release and reinstatement of democratically elected mayors and officials;

Urges to put an end to the repression of political opponents, human rights defenders, civil servants, journalists, writers and academics; calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all people arbitrarily detained such as Figen Yüksekdağ, Selahattin Demirtaş, Osman Kavala, Çiğdem Mater, Mine Özerden, Can Atalay, and Tayfun Kahraman, and that the charges against them be immediately dropped or cancelled;

Strongly condemns the use of the justice system for political purposes; requires to ensure the independence of the judiciary, and to guarantee the right to due process;

Urges the authorities to ensure that existing legislation – in particular the anti-terror Law, the Criminal Code, the law on assemblies and demonstrations and the law on disinformation– is revised to comply with international standards;

Condemns the repression faced by those demonstrating against these disqualifications and calls on the authorities to respect the right to freedom of assembly and association;

Requires to the Council to ensure that full implementation by Türkiye of its rule of law and fundamental rights obligations be an integral part of the EU-Türkiye relationship;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the EU institutions, Member States, and the Türkiyes authorities.