Following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on charges of corruption and collaboration with terrorist groups, some political observers and Turkish society considered this action a political move by the ruling party and Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself to marginalize his main rival.
This is while Erdogan cited the investigation by the judiciary as the main reason for Imamoglu’s arrest and even considered the protests resulting from this action in some of Türkiye’s most important cities to be violent.
Following this issue, the German Foreign Minister reacted to the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul and assessed it as far from democracy.
She threatened to prevent Turkey from joining the European Union, and called Turkey’s membership ridiculous, given the type of democracy that prevails in Turkey.
It seems that the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu has caused new challenges for Türkiye and has made the ruling party’s political outlook for governance even darker, along with economic problems.
The Review
Germany threatens to halt Turkey's EU membership process
In a message on X, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock criticized the halt in democracy in Türkiye and considered this process an obstacle to Türkiye's membership in the European Union.
