The Socialist International requests the release of the mayor of Istanbul from prison. Pedro Sanchez met with Erdogan
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at the meeting of the Socialist International Photo: AA / Abaca / Abaca Press / Profimedia
The Council of the Socialist International, brought together in Istanbul on Saturday, requested the release of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, whose arrest has aroused extensive protests in Turkey, AFP reports.
Officials of the socialist parties from different countries, including Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, have held banners that wrote “Release Imamoglu”, according to images broadcast by the main opposition party in Turkey, CHP, whose leader, Ozgur Ozel, is the vice-president of the Socialist International.
“Everyone in this room has sacrificed a lot to defend democracy. We go through difficult times, many of our friends are in prison. We are with our companions from Belarus, Niger, Venezuela and Turkey,” said Sanchez, who is also the president of the Socialist International.
Visiting in Turkey, Pedro Sanchez met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday.
The detention, on March 19, of the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, who rejects the accusations of corruption that were brought to him, triggered a wave of unprecedented protests in Turkey in 2013.
The dismissed mayor of Istanbul, considered the most reducible opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is in detention on March 23, the day he was invested by his (social-democratic) party as a candidate in future presidential elections to take place in 2028.
