A court in northwestern Turkey has imposed a travel ban on Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan, notorious for his anti-refugee policies, as part of a trial in which he faces charges of “hate and discrimination,” the mayor announced on social media, Turkish Minute reported.
Özcan, of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said the Bolu 6th Criminal Court of First Instance handed down the restriction even though the prosecutors did not request it. “The prosecutor’s office did not seek any judicial supervision, yet the court imposed a travel ban without providing a justification,” he wrote.
The case was reopened earlier this year after Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç publicly commented on Özcan’s policies, according to the mayor. He said prosecutors had previously issued several decisions of non-prosecution over similar complaints. “Despite these finalized decisions, a new investigation was launched and a trial opened,” the mayor said, calling the court’s move “strange” and leaving it to “the conscience of the Turkish people.”
Özcan has attracted criticism for measures widely described as discriminatory against Syrian refugees and other foreigners. He pushed through a tenfold increase in water and marriage registration fees for foreign nationals, canceled municipal aid for refugees and ordered the removal of Arabic-language shop signs, a move he later admitted was unlawful.
Turkey’s National Human Rights and Equality Institution (TİHEK) as well as rights groups have denounced these measures as discriminatory.
Özcan was re-elected in Bolu as the CHP’s mayoral candidate in the 2024 local elections and won the seat by garnering 52.9 percent of the vote.
