Merz Shouldn’t Ignore Türkiye’s Assault on Rights, Democracy

On the heels of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to sign a dealfor Türkiye to acquire fighter jets, on October 30 German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will beat his own path to the presidential palace. While the announced focus is foreign policy, security, and bilateral matters, Merz should not overlook Türkiye’s deepening slide on democracy and rights. Hours before Starmer’s welcome in Ankara with full military honors, in a surreal turn of events, an Istanbul court issued a new detention order against Ekrem İmamoğlu, the already jailed Istanbul mayor and Erdoğan rival, on grounds of possible involvement in espionage for the UK. Merz would do well to voice concerns that locking up and removing elected opposition politicians raises the prospect of Türkiye abandoning its history of democracy and becoming a far less stable partner.

The Erdoğan administration is increasingly suppressing the political opposition and the media while expanding political control of the courts.

The dubious espionage investigation against İmamoğlu is just the latest episode in the Erdoğan government’s barrage of lawsuits against the main opposition Republican People’s Party and the popular Istanbul mayor.

The new investigation rests on flimsy claims of data leaks to the UK and other countries and the far-fetched allegations of a person who testified against İmamoğlu. It comes on top of unsupported accusations by the Istanbul prosecutor that İmamoğlu is the leader of a criminal organization. Germany and other European Union member states should not ignore Türkiye’s authoritarian trajectory in trying to deepen their alliance with Erdoğan around defense, regional developments, and economic relations. Signs show that the Erdoğan government is not only focused on disqualifying the political opposition. A new draft law leaked to the media suggests that moves are underway to criminalize LGBT people, threatening prison for expressions or promotion of “attitudes and behavior contrary to biological sex and general morality” and greatly restricting access to gender-affirming healthcare services for trans people. While the Erdoğan government is sure to promote important efforts underway to end the four-decade conflict with the Kurds, Merz and other European leaders need to call out the simultaneous vicious crackdown at home and not look the other way. .

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References:

• https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/27/uk-in-8bn-deal-to-sell-typhoon-jets-to-turkey-despite-human-rights-concerns
• https://nordot.app/1355570844923756730
• https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkish-prosecutors-file-new-espionage-charges-istanbuls-jailed-126890785
• https://bianet.org/haber/court-orders-arrest-of-imamoglu-journalist-yanardag-in-espionage-probe-312938
• https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/10/29/turkiye-draft-law-threatens-lgbt-people-with-prison
• https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/02/28/turkiye-use-call-halt-violence-catalyst-end-rights-abuses