The PES stands with its associated member party in Turkey CHP, whose candidate won the Istanbul election, and calls on President Erdoğan’s Government to respect the result delivered by the people at the local election and accept Mr Ekrem Imamoğlu as the legitimate Mayor-elect of Istanbul.
Developments in Istanbul show that President Erdoğan and the AKP are unwilling to accept a peaceful, democratic, transitions of power. The Turkish Government has sought repeated vote recounts, a delayed delivery of the certificate of election to Mayor-elect Ekrem İmamoğlu, and has now put political pressure on the High Election Board to secure a re-run of the local election in Istanbul.
Democrats in Turkey and across Europe are firmly standing against attempts to undermine democracy by President Erdoğan and the ruling AKP party.