During its session of last March, the Congress approved the Resolution and the Recommendation presented by Leen Verbeek (NL/ Soc) and Anders Knape (Sweden, EPP/CCE) about the growingly serious situation in Turkey.

The two documents contain the request, to Turkish authorities, to respect civil and political rights of all citizens, to halt all unjustified, repressive and discriminating actions; to guarantee elected Mayors the legitimate exercise of their mandate; to stop using anti-terrorism fight as a tool to persecuting democratic opponents.

The Rapporteur Leen Verbek declared: "the rapporteurs are also concerned at what appears to be a systematic practice of placing the mayors in prisons which are very far from their homes, which makes contact with their lawyers and families extremely difficult, as well as reports that many of those concerned were placed in solitary confinement for long periods after their detention"."

“We cannot shut our eyes – the Socialist Group’s President, Fassino, said in a speech delivered to the Assembly – in front of the seriousness of Turkish situation. This Congress did not hesitate to clearly condemn the putsch attempt of summer 2016, and it is strongly committed to fighting terrorism, as well. But we cannot accept the repressive actions adopted by Turkish authorities: hundreds of legitimate elected Mayors have been removed from their offices, thousands of people have been jailed, thousands of public officers have been fired, journalists and political opponents have been arrested. All these actions are openly in contrast with the principles, the values and the constitutive Chart of the European Council to which Turkey subscribed, too. For these reasons, we ask Turkish authorities to halt any further repression and to reinstate the rule of law, to reintegrate the removed Mayors into their offices again, guaranteeing full freedom of action and movement to them."