European Parliament member Dario Nardella announced on social media over the weekend that a group of European mayors will travel to İstanbul this week to show solidarity with the city’s jailed mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, Turkish Minute reported on Monday.
Italian Democratic Party MEP Nardella, a former mayor of Florence who currently serves as the president of Eurocities, shared photos with İmamoğlu on Instagram and wrote that the delegation would call for his release along with other opposition figures in prison. He added that the European Union should not turn a blind eye to the situation.
“Six months ago I embraced my friend Ekrem İmamoğlu in İstanbul. One month later, he was imprisoned in Silivri, where he still remains — together with 16 other opposition mayors from CHP,” Nardella wrote.
“Next week, European mayors will return to İstanbul to show solidarity and demand freedom for all those unjustly detained. The EU cannot look away: no trade deals with governments that violate democracy and human rights,” he added.
İmamoğlu, a senior member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and his party’s presidential candidate for the next election, was detained on March 19 and later arrested on corruption charges criticized as politically motivated. His arrest, widely seen as targeting the biggest political rival to longtime President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the 2028 presidential election, sparked Turkey’s worst protests in decades.
The planned visit by the European mayors comes amid a yearlong crackdown on the CHP. More than 500 people linked to the party or the İstanbul Municipality have been detained or arrested since March.
Among them are 14 CHP mayors, including İmamoğlu, who was also suspended from office.
The party and its supporters say the operations targeting the CHP are designed to neutralize elected officials and sideline opposition leaders after the party’s gains in the March 2024 local elections.
İmamoğlu, who faces multiple investigations, has been sentenced to two prison terms, including one for allegedly insulting a public prosecutor. Both sentences are under appeal, but opposition leaders claim the charges are politically motivated.
International human rights groups and lawmakers in Europe have raised concerns over the rule of law in Turkey, warning that the mass detentions and legal pressures could further erode democratic norms. The Marmara Prison in Silivri, where many opposition figures, including İmamoğlu, are being held, has become a symbol of the country’s deepening political tensions.
