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Metropolitan Mayor of İstanbul Ekrem İmamoğlu attended the Council of Europe (CoE) Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Strasbourg, France yesterday (October 30).
Invited to the CoE Congress, İzmir Metropolitan Mayor Tunç Soyer, Büyükçekmece Mayor Hasan Akgün and Bakırköy Mayor Bülent Kerimoğlu were also in Strasbourg. Watching the congress as audience, people from Turkey living in Strasbourg welcomed İmamoğlu with applause.
Speaking at the Congress, İstanbul Mayor İmamoğlu indicated that he is against the appointment of trustees.
"If a person elected to an office does not leave it with an election, there remains neither democracy, nor rule of law", İmamoğlu said and added, "The will of citizens that comes out of the ballot box is not a will that can be regarded as valid or invalid at the discretion of power holders."
Other highlights from his speech were as follows:
'Principle of state of law violated'
"Creating difficulties for people to use their right to elect and to be elected does nothing, but empowers the circles looking for anti-democratic ways. Treating some voters, political and elected politicians differently, applying different criteria and rules to them is never and ever acceptable.
"Dismissal of mayors, appointment of trustees in their place and arrest of some of these mayors violate especially the principle of state of law. Dismissals do not comply with the principles of democracy, our existing legal regulations and international agreements that we are a party to.
'We have to say "No" to injustice'
"Political parties and their elected executives, MPs, mayors are either within the law or outside it. It is the judiciary that will make the final decision about it. Not the political will... It is openly indicated in the Constitution.
"No matter who is subjected to it, we have to say "No" to injustice openly and all together. Because it is a struggle for justice, it is a struggle for democracy. It is a struggle for protecting the nation's will.
'I am clear about trustees'
"They are talking about trsutees over and over again, but I am very clear about this issue. I am against the practice of appointing trustees. Period. I am that clear. People also got hurt in processes intervened without any criminal evidence before and at a heavy cost.
"We reject it vehemently. If there is a person whose relation with the terrorist organization has been detected, he or she is put on trial and heavily penalized. We are strictly against it, we reject it." (TP/SD)
