Arrest of Imamoglu: EPP boss sees the idea for partnership with Türkiye in peril | EUROtoday

The EPP chairwoman and CSU-Vice Manfred Weber sees the idea for working with the federal government of head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan, given the detention of the Turkish opposition politician Ekrem Imamoglu. “The EU wants a close partnership with Turkey, but that can only work on the basis of common values,” mentioned the highest politician of the German Press Agency. Using the judiciary as a political weapon isn’t appropriate with these values.

“Erdogan’s Türkiye is on the wrong way,” criticized Weber, who with the EVP parliamentary group leads the biggest group of members of the MP within the European Parliament. The rule of legislation and democracy threatened to be broken.

The Turkish opposition politician Imamoglu had been arrested final week for allegations in reference to terrorist and corruption investigations after which deducted in his perform as Mayor of Istanbul. So far, he has been thought of probably the most promising political challenger of Erdogan within the election scheduled for 2028 and was additionally arrange as a candidate by the biggest opposition celebration. Imamoglu denies all allegations and accuses the federal government of desirous to politically with the investigation.

Possible cancellation of consultations in dialog

Due to the developments, a doable cancellation of deliberate discussions concerning the growth of cooperation with Turkey was just lately below dialogue within the EU. The deliberate consultations had been introduced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen just some days earlier than the arrest Imamoglus. According to the knowledge, an EU-Türkiye dialog for enterprise points in April and one other on migration and safety points was ready.

The background to the planning was an order by the heads of state and authorities by a summit in April 2024. At that point, it was agreed to strengthen relationships with Turkey as doable – particularly as a result of the nation performs a key position within the efforts to stabilize the japanese Mediterranean and in fixing migration issues.

Previously, tasks such because the deliberate modernization of the customs union and a visal liberalization for regression within the rule of legislation, basic rights and freedom of expression in Turkey had been placed on maintain.