On 19 March, we have been following with concern the arrests of 107 people, including the Municipal Association of Turkey and Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the district mayors of Şişli and Beylikdüzü, and journalist İsmail Saymaz, as part of three separate investigations in Istanbul.
Following the arrests, we consider the administrative and technical restrictions on freedom of assembly, peaceful demonstration and freedom of expression to be unacceptable. The interventions and arrests during peaceful protests, which are a constitutional right, are also incompatible with fundamental human rights. On the other hand, we consider the leaking of the contents of the secret files to the press to be a smear campaign and declare that this is unacceptable.
For many years, the blurring of the boundaries of terrorism charges and, in some cases, their extension to ordinary day-to-day or political activities has been heavily criticised in Turkey, as it has become a major threat to freedom of association and expression in civil society. Since Wednesday 19 March, we see that these vague criminal charges have been mobilised to restrict the right to vote and be elected, one of our fundamental constitutional rights. Likewise, we see the unjust and unlawful decision to dismiss the president and board members of the Istanbul Bar Association on 21 March as part of the ongoing anti-democratic practises.
We demand that the detainees, including experts who have been active in civil society for many years, be released from prison as soon as possible and that the investigations against them be concluded quickly within the framework of universal legal rules.
STGM Board of Directors