The Turkish Ministry of Justice has turned down a request from a group of European mayors, including Athens mayor Haris Doukas, who traveled to Istanbul seeking to visit the city’s imprisoned mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, at the high-security Marmara jail in Silivri.

The delegation, representing the Eurocities and B40 Balkan cities networks, awarded Imamoglu the “Special Democracy Award”, which was accepted on his behalf by his wife, Dilek Imamoglu.

At the ceremony, she read a message from her husband, in which he said the award belonged “to all citizens in Turkey and around the world who resist injustice and oppression.”

Imamoglu, who has served as mayor of Istanbul since 2019 and is a presidential candidate for the opposition CHP, has been in custody since March as part of an ongoing judicial investigation.

In his message, he linked his detention to his calls for “a more democratic, fair, and prosperous country,” adding that his determination “has not diminished but strengthened.”

European officials described the case as a blow to democracy in Turkey and urged his immediate release.

Doukas, Athens’ mayor, highlighted the need to keep “the spirit of democracy alive,” while Zagreb mayor Tomislav Tomasevic noted that only opposition mayors face imprisonment on corruption charges, “which raises questions.”

Sofia mayor Vasil Terziev described the prosecution as “an attack on the hopes of millions of citizens,” Utrecht mayor Sharon Dijksma stressed that Imamoglu “must be released without delay,” and a representative from Madrid’s town hall pointed to “a global trend of authoritarian leaders silencing the opposition through fabricated charges.”