Agency Report –
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday described the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in Turkey as a “very, very bad sign.”
The detention of such a central opposition politician is “depressing for democracy in Turkey, but certainly also depressing for relations between Europe and Turkey,” Scholz said on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels.
İmamoğlu was detained on Wednesday morning on terrorism and corruption charges and has been in police custody since then.
He was set to be nominated as the presidential candidate for the Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Sunday, and is considered a possible challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“We can only call for this to end immediately,” Scholz said. The opposition should not be put on trial, but should be able to compete with the government, the chancellor said.
According to the state-run news agency Anadolu, at least 87 other people were detained alongside İmamoğlu, with a total of 106 under investigation.
