France’s capital Paris has granted jailed Turkish opposition leader Ekrem Imamoglu an honorary citizenship, calling for greater international recognition of Turkiye’s alleged crackdown on democracy, French newspaper Figaro reported.
On 19 March, Turkish authorities arrested Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on charges of corruption and affiliations with terrorism, and have since arrested others associated with the figure, in what many criticise as a direct crackdown on Turkiye’s most prominent opposition figure and the main rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The move has since been met with mass protests, as well as condemnation from parts of the international community that view it as a violation of democratic values and processes.
The French capital Paris is the latest to join that condemnation, with the city’s authorities having voted to grant Imamoglu honorary citizenship. In an address to the city council, Mayor Anne Hidalgo stated that “Imamoglu is today unfairly prevented from representing his party and carrying the voice of millions of Turkish people.”
She insisted that “deprived of his freedom and his basic rights, he should be able to count on the full support of Paris,” which she referred to as “the capital of human rights.” Hidalgo added that the move and show of support “will perhaps allow the current Turkish authorities to hear the voices of democratic reason.”
OPINION: Where does Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu get his popularity from?