@SenatorDurbin We need more voices like yours to speak up. Erdogan just jailed a comedian and he has the popular mayor of Istanbul jailed almost without recourse.
I’m with a bipartisan congressional delegation in Ankara, Türkiye, to attend the 2026 NATO Summit.
As Putin continues to wage his war of aggression against Ukraine and menace our Baltic allies, we must remain unified in our fight for democracy.
Sabah 08.10’da, hapishanede, mahkeme heyetinin İBB duruşmasına katılmamı engelleyen keyfî kararı tarafıma bildirildi.
Benim ismimle kurulan iddianamenin görüşüldüğü mahkemeye katılmamın engellenmesi çok ağır bir hak ihlalidir, düşman hukukunun zirvesidir.
Mahkeme iddianamede en fazla suç isnat edilen kişilerin ve avukatlarının savunmalarını kısıtlamakta, yok saymaktadır.
Bu durum, “asrın hukuksuzluğu” İBB davasının tümüyle çökmüş, bir yargısız infaz yığınına döndüğünün ispatıdır.
Dava açıldıktan sonra doğal yargıç ilkesi hiçe sayılarak dizayn edilen, bu sebeple bağımsızlığı ve tarafsızlığından asla söz edilemeyecek mahkeme heyeti, bugün itibarıyla görünürde bile olsa yargılama faaliyetinden tümden vazgeçmiştir.
Bu hukuksuzluğu ifşa ediyorum. Milletimiz duysun.
To the Mayors of Ghent, Amsterdam and Zagreb, Mathias De Clercq, Femke Halsema, Tomislav Tomašević, and to the hundreds of cities standing behind Eurocities, the Pact of Free Cities and the B40 Balkan Cities Network: thank you.
Your statement says what many national governments will not. While capitals stay silent on the erosion of rights and freedoms, and some extend a handshake to those responsible, it is cities that rise to defend democracy and the rule of law. This is no coincidence. Mayors answer to their citizens, not to the diplomacy of summits.
Democracy was born in cities. And today, when it is under siege, it is once again cities that defend it in Ghent, in Amsterdam, in Zagreb, and in Istanbul.
I stand trial not for anything I have done, but for what 16 million Istanbulites said at the ballot box.
The world will be watching Ankara. Thanks to you, my friends, it will also be watching Silivri.
Turkish authorities are escalating a years-long crackdown against perceived critics in the run up to this week’s NATO summit in Ankara, in a show of intolerance toward dissent https://t.co/5aqSRz86HP
Today, as I face three separate trials in a single day, I was not alone. I welcomed to Silivri three friends of democracy who crossed borders to stand with the people of Istanbul.
To Nacho Sánchez Amor, Member of the European Parliament and its Rapporteur on Türkiye. To Rui Tavares, Member of the Portuguese Parliament and leader of LIVRE. To Dagur B. Eggertsson, Member of the Icelandic Parliament, head of Iceland’s delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and former Mayor of Reykjavík. Thank you for being here. Your presence in this courtroom is a message that no wall can silence.
The votes of millions of people are on trial in this room. What is being tested is whether justice in Türkiye still answers to the law, or to fear.
To the international community I say this plainly. Watching is not enough. History remembers those who spoke, and it remembers those who looked away. Stand with the millions who made their choice at the ballot box, and who are still waiting for that choice to be honored.
We are not afraid. People’s will is going to prevail at the end.
NATO was founded as an alliance of both security & democratic values. Hosting this summit in Turkey while ignoring Erdogan's daily attacks on freedom and the rule of law isn't diplomacy, it's complicity.
We must not be silent. We should call out Erdogan's abuses.
https://t.co/8W2fYLJv4b
If leaders in the West cared about human rights violations, they would call out Erdogan for unjustly jailing his opponents, devastating the opposition, and destroying Turkey’s democratic practices, writes columnist @stevenacook. https://t.co/KLDzS8eBmw
NATO denied accreditation to independent Turkish media critical of @RTErdogan . Around the summit, repression also hit civil society: 241 warrants and 209 detentions targeting activists, trade unionists, LGBTQ+ voices, lawyers and academics, including Kaos GL’s Yıldız Tar. This is not how a NATO summit is organised. Not with repression. Not with a summit turned into one more excuse to silence democracy.
The arrest of at least 209 people in the Turkish capital, Ankara, ahead of the July 7-8 NATO summit there highlights Türkiye’s ruthless intolerance of freedom of speech and assembly. https://t.co/3NlfVy7zFr
From Özgür Özel’s stops across Turkey to Ekrem İmamoğlu’s name echoing beyond prison walls, one thing is clear: the democratic hunger of Turkish citizens is alive and burning. A democratic movement is ready to challenge Erdoğan not with fear, but with votes, courage and hope. When power tries to choose its opponents, people choose democracy. As European Democrats, we know this: Turkey’s future will not be written by intimidation. It will be written by citizens.
In a powerful essay for @Newsweek , Turkey’s main opposition leader Özgür Özel argues that Turkey’s democratic crisis can no longer be dismissed as an internal political matter. The systematic dismantling of democratic institutions has become a broader security challenge, with consequences extending far beyond Turkey’s borders.https://t.co/9ZJ1TyBHkB
Europe should clearly and unambiguously condemn what Erdogan’s system is doing to the opposition in Turkey.
Europe cannot keep ignoring attacks on democratic values.
Our principles should clearly support Turkish citizens who are fighting for democracy.
Erdogan ordered Turkey’s police to raid the opposition party’s HQ days after a kangaroo court ousted the opposition leader. We cannot keep ignoring Turkey’s descent into authoritarianism. We must stand for the people's right to democracy for allies & adversaries alike.��
https://t.co/Ot3jtDeNtQ