France and Germany condemned the arrest of Istanbul mayor

According to RCO News Agency, the German Chancellor resigned today (Thursday), a day after the arrest of Akram Imam Jalalu, the mayor of Istanbul and a senior member of the Republican People’s Party in Turkey, who is recognized as the main election rival for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In his speech, Schultz called the arrest of Istanbul mayor “a very bad sign” for Turkish democracy and its relations with the European Union when he entered the meeting of EU officials and leaders in Brussels, and urged Turkish leaders to “immediately end the matter.”

Schultz said Berlin and Brussels have spent a great deal of effort to improve their relations with Türkiye in recent years. “That is why arresting an important dissenting politician like the mayor of Istanbul is a very bad sign,” he said.

“This is a weakening of democracy in Türkiye as well as for the relations between Europe and Türkiye,” the German Chancellor continued.

Imamoglu’s arrest took place just days before his opponents were scheduled to announce his candidate for the next Turkish presidential election.

Turkish prosecutors have declared Imamoglu’s charge of corruption, assistance to a terrorist group and lead a criminal organization.

His arrest led to a wave of demonstrations in Türkiye to protest the incident that led to the arrest of more than four people.

“We can only call for an immediate end to the issue, and also call for competition between the opposition and the government in Turkey instead of prosecuting the opposition,” Schultz said.

Earlier, German Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fisher said that the arrest of Istanbul mayor was a “serious registration” for democracy in Türkiye.

“This arrest is part of the legal pressure against the mayor of Istanbul, while in our view, respect for democratic principles and the rule of law is a fundamental precondition for an efficient democracy,” Fisher said. We have noticed the unusual focus of legal cases against Imamoglu. “The German side will properly handle this issue among its Turkish counterparts.”

The French Foreign Ministry also condemned and expressed concern about the arrest of Akram Imamoglu.

Christopher Lumwan, a French Foreign Ministry spokesman, said France was “deeply concerned” with Akram Imamoglu’s arrest and believes that this will have serious consequences for Türkiye’s democracy.

“We have been deeply concerned that Istanbul mayor Akram Imam and Istanbul mayor and the face of the opposition political faction in Turkey, along with several other prominent figures,” Lumwan said in a press conference. “These arrests are likely to have serious consequences for Turkish democracy.”

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