Overview

• On August 28, Barcelona mayor Jaume Collboni led about a dozen European municipal leaders to the vicinity of Silivri prison to denounce Ekrem İmamoğlu’s jailing as unjust.
• The delegation met Istanbul’s acting mayor, Nuri Aslan, and İmamoğlu’s wife, Dilek Kaya İmamoğlu, and presented Eurocities’ Special Democracy Award to the imprisoned mayor.
• İmamoğlu has been held in Silivri since a March 19 detention and a two-and-a-half-year sentence based on prosecutor claims that he led a criminal mafia and had links to the PKK.
• Eurocities says it represents more than 200 cities and 130 million people, casting the visit as city diplomacy to uphold democratic rights and local governance.
• Aslan welcomed international municipal backing but reproached the timidity of some European national governments, calling the moment among the most difficult for Turkey’s democracy.