Ekrem İmamoğlu: “The reflex of the Turkish people that embraces the Istanbul Convention is the most important manifestation of faith and devotion.”

The "Monitoring Committee" of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, of which 47 countries are members, convened in Istanbul, hosted by Büyükçekmece Municipality.

150 delegates consisting of local and regional administrators and mayors from 47 countries attended the Monitoring Committee meeting. The opening speech of the meeting, chaired by Gudrun Mosler-Toernstroem, Chairman of the Monitoring Committee, was delivered by Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mayor of Büyükçekmece Dr. Hasan Akgün.

“The reflex of our people is the source of motivation for democratic politicians”

Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Ekrem İmamoğlu stated that throughout history, the world has faced devastating tragedies as a result of the erosion of universal values such as respect for human dignity, pluralistic democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, which Europe has also taken as a guide, and said: Unfortunately, it has brought with it deep political, economic and social crises all over the world. In this context, the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, the humanitarian tragedy caused by the war is the latest manifestation of this reality and must end as soon as possible. In recent years, in addition to the aforementioned crisis, we have also been faced with global crises such as the Covid-19 epidemic, the global economic crisis and the climate crisis.  I think that we will move towards innovation and development with the new roles that the coming days give us for the whole world. In this sense, it is our duty to learn from the realities that history persistently reveals. We will all together take the steps that will strengthen our solidarity that will arise from our unity by coming together strongly around universal values. In this context, I must express that I find the efforts of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe to promote local and regional democracy, to develop and strengthen the administration extremely valuable.

Distinguished guests, as the Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, we have been continuing our courageous works for a fair, egalitarian, libertarian and participatory city that will affect the lives of our fellow citizens in every field. We will continue our work until democracy, equality, human rights and justice in our city permeate every aspect of our lives. Although we witness the destruction of these values from time to time today, the belief and loyalty of the Turkish people to these values has shown itself in many events. This reflex of our people is the biggest source of motivation for us democratic politicians and at the same time the guarantee of democracy. I would like to share with you a recent event that may exemplify this situation. It is the decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, which was prepared by the Council of Europe and signed in Istanbul under the leadership of Turkey, which determines the obligations of states in all kinds of violence and struggle against women. Let alone the process of withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention, of which I am proud to have the word Istanbul in the concept, it is also thought-provoking that such an important contract in terms of content creates a negative perception. However, despite all this, the social reflex of the Turkish people, who protect the Istanbul Convention, is one of the most important manifestations of the belief and commitment that I have mentioned to you.

“Local democracy is one of the indispensable elements for humanity”

Büyükçekmece Mayor Dr. Hasan Akgün, calling for an immediate end to the war and bloodshed in Ukraine, said: "I have been serving local democracy for 45 years, with the mayorship for 6 consecutive terms. At the same time, I have been continuing my duty in Turkey and the national delegation of the Council of Europe Local and Regional Authorities Congress for 21 years. I have gained very important experiences on local and regional democracy during my working time in the congress, I tried to apply these experiences to my city during my duty and I continue to work. Local democracy is one of the most indispensable elements for all humanity. In 2019, I encountered a very important event in the history of Turkish nation democracy. Ekrem İmamoğlu, Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, who made a speech to you at the congress on October 30, 2019 and will be transferred to you shortly, despite his clear victory in the elections of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in the elections of March 31, 2019, the Supreme Election Board canceled the elections for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. On 23 June 2019, elections were held for the second time in Istanbul. The point I want to emphasize is about these election results. Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was elected mayor with a margin of 14 thousand votes in the first election, won the elections with the highest number of votes in Istanbul with a margin of 806 thousand in the second election, and became the only mayor to win the elections twice in 2 months in a row. These election results have been a great lesson for everyone on behalf of Turkish Democracy. In other words, the phrase "Sovereignty belongs to the nation unconditionally", said 100 years ago by Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, has almost been re-registered in the repeated elections in Istanbul. This election, which went down in history on behalf of democracy, is an important experience that will be taught as a course in political science at all times. Until today, we have carried out and continue to carry out many studies under the umbrella of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in order to strengthen local and regional democracy, improve management and develop cooperation in member countries. Today, we will add new ones to our work here.” 

Human Rights at Local and Regional Level.

After the opening speeches, the topics of Local and Regional Democracy in Europe, Compliance with the European Charter of Local Self-Government Autonomy by Member States, Observation of Local Elections, Human Rights at Local and Regional Level, Municipalities in Ukraine and Current Situation in the Region, which were on the agenda of the Monitoring Committee, were discussed.

In the Committee, monitoring the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government Autonomy in the Czech Republic, monitoring the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in Belgium, monitoring the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in Sweden, and the implementation of the Charter of Local Self-Government in Denmark monitoring its implementation, the state of Local and Regional Democracy in Moldova, the state of local and regional democracy in Slovakia, the information report on partial local elections in Albania, the report on municipal elections in the Netherlands and the reports on local elections in Belgrade and some other municipalities were discussed.