The Turkish Ministry of Justice has rejected the request of the delegation of European mayors to visit the suspended mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu in prison in Silivri, Halk TV reports on its website, BTA reported.
The delegation, which also included Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev, who is the chairman of the B40 Balkan Cities Network, planned to visit Imamoglu in prison today after a visit to the Istanbul Greater Municipality in Saraçhane.
The members of the delegation arrived at the municipality building, where they were welcomed by Deputy Mayor Nuri Aslan.
In a statement after welcoming them, Aslan announced that the Ministry of Justice did not allow the mayors of European cities to visit the detained mayor of Istanbul in Silivri prison. Aslan also stated that the mayors of the cities that are members of "Eurocities" (Eurocities) and B40 (B40) have supported them since the first day and despite the ministry's refusal, they plan to go to Silivri at 2:00 PM to express their support.
"I want to thank our European colleagues. This visit is the most concrete expression of our solidarity. The Ministry of Justice rejected the delegation's request to meet Mayor Ekrem (Imamoglu) in prison. Nevertheless, we will go to Silivri to offer our support. A political operation is being conducted against our mayor in front of the eyes of the whole world," said Nuri Aslan.
In addition to the mayor of Sofia, the delegation includes the deputy chairman of the Network of European Cities "Eurocities" (Eurocities) and Mayor of Barcelona Jaume Colboni, Mayor of Zagreb Tomislav Tomašević, Mayor of Athens Haris Doukas, Mayor of Timişoara Dominik Fritz, Mayor of Utrecht Sharon Dixma, Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karacsony, Deputy Mayor of Paris Arnaud Ngatcha, Director General of International Relations of Madrid José Francisco Herrera Antonaya and Secretary General of "Eurocities" André Sobchak.
Ekrem İmamoğlu is being investigated on charges of creating and leading a criminal organization, corruption, irregularities in tenders and violations of personal data protection. Considered the most serious opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he rejects all allegations against him as politically motivated.
The mayor of Istanbul was detained on March 19 on corruption charges, and a few days later the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality suspended him from office. A number of municipal officials were also detained as part of the investigation into corruption in the Istanbul Greater Municipality. The arrests sparked a wave of protests, described as the largest in Turkey since 2013.