Turkey police arrest activist after council of Europe speech

Turkish authorities have detained an activist who chided President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government for “democratic backsliding” at a Council of Europe body, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

Enes Hocaogullari, 23, was detained on Tuesday as he arrived at Ankara airport, his lawyer Mahmut Seren told AFP. “He’s currently in Sincan prison,” on the outskirts of Ankara, added the lawyer who called the action politically motivated.

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The activist had already been target of an investigation by Turkish authorities after a March speech he made to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities -- a body of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe.

He is a youth delegate at the congress, and his lawyer said he stays abroad half of the year.

Hocaogullari -- an advocate of human rights and LGBTQI rights -- condemned “democratic backsliding” and “human rights violations” in Turkey at the congress, a few days after the March 19 arrest of Istanbul’s opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on graft allegations.

He also lashed out at Turkish police for using what he called “disproportionate brutality” against protesters who took to the streets across the country.
Hocaogullari’s arrest drew criticism from the Council of Europe.

“The arrest and charges in question, based on words spoken by a Congress youth delegate during a plenary sitting of the Congress, flout the fundamental right to free expression -- a cornerstone of democracy in Europe,” Marc Cools, president of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, said in a statement.

Turkish authorities have cracked down on protests since the arrest of Imamoglu -- a key rival to Erdogan. They detained nearly 2,000 protesters including students and journalists, most of whom have since been released.

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