The European Parliament has called for the release of Esila Ayik, a student from Ghent, who was arrested in Turkey a month ago.
In a report on Turkey, the European assembly in Strasbourg expressed “deep concern” over the “unlawful arrest” of Esila Ayik. Members of the European Parliament highlighted her “heart and kidney condition, for which she is currently not receiving treatment.”
Esila Ayik, a photography student at KASK in Ghent, was detained in April during protests against the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, who was seen as the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the upcoming elections.
The members of the European Parliament condemned the “harsh crackdown” on “peaceful mass protests” and urged “the immediate release of all those still detained and the acquittal of all individuals prosecuted for exercising their fundamental rights.”
More broadly, the European Parliament criticised the deterioration of democratic standards in Turkey. The country is increasingly moving away from the accession criteria, and the assembly stated that there can be no question of resuming accession talks.
Turkey was recognised as a candidate for European Union membership in 1999, but accession negotiations have been stalled since 2018.
