İmamoğlu writes to Europe from prison
The first issue of Democrats Review, the review launched this month by the European Democratic Party (EDP) and its think tank, the Institute of European Democrats (IED), carries an article that did not come from a party headquarters or a campaign office. It came from a prison cell.
"Türkiye's Democracy on Trial, Europe's Security at Stake", published on 16 September 2026, is signed by Ekrem İmamoğlu, the opposition figure whom millions of Turkish citizens had chosen as their presidential candidate and who has been imprisoned since March 2025.
"Elections still happen"
İmamoğlu's argument is not a plea for his own case. It is a warning about a method.
"When law becomes a weapon against political alternatives and elections lose the substance of genuine choice, democratic erosion is no longer a domestic affair — it becomes a threat to Europe's shared security," he writes.
He recalls that Türkiye was a founding member of the Council of Europe, a NATO ally and a participant in the Helsinki process, and presents his text "not as an outsider's opinion, but a call from within a tradition we helped create".
What he describes has a name in today's legal and political debate: lawfare. Institutions built to protect democratic competition turned into instruments for narrowing it. "Elections still happen, but the range of genuine choices open to voters grows steadily narrower. From a distance, little seems to have changed; in reality, the substance of democratic life is being transformed."
On the judicial and administrative measures taken against elected mayors and opposition-run municipalities, he is blunt about the purpose: "The aim was never only to control who ran a few cities; it was to weaken society's belief that democratic change is possible at all."
A question for Europe, not only for Türkiye
The most direct passage is addressed to a continent currently rebuilding its defence. "In today's volatile world, Europe is rightly investing in its defence and deterrence; and it must show the same resolve in defending its democratic security."
The pressure he describes, he adds, is not Türkiye's alone: "the machinery of elections preserved, while the substance of choice is hollowed out. This is why democratic security cannot stop at national borders. It is an indivisible responsibility."
On his own trial, he notes that the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights drew attention to his case, and that the court has said he will be given the opportunity to present his defence — without saying when, or for how long. "A right of defence means little until it can be exercised in full."
He closes on the founding of Yeni Parti, the new party led by Özgür Özel in which he has chosen to continue his political struggle, and on hope: "I write these final words as someone deprived of his freedom, yet I remain hopeful."
Gozi: "Ekrem, you are not alone"
Sandro Gozi, Secretary General of the EDP and Member of the European Parliament, commented on the publication:
"We are honoured that Ekrem İmamoğlu chose Democrats Review, the review of our party and of our think tank the Institute of European Democrats, to speak to Europe. His article did not reach us from a party headquarters: it reached us from the prison cell where Erdoğan has kept him since March 2025, after millions of Turkish citizens had chosen him as their candidate.
What is happening in Türkiye is not a fight against corruption: it is the systematic use of the judiciary to eliminate political alternatives before voters can choose them. Elected mayors are jailed, opposition parties are reshaped by court rulings, journalists and civil society live under constant pressure. Europe cannot rearm while staying silent as democratic space is dismantled in a country that is a NATO ally, a founding member of the Council of Europe and a candidate for accession.
We demand a genuine and effective right of defence in his trial, as the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights has asked, and an end to the judicial harassment of the Turkish opposition. Ekrem, you are not alone: European democrats stand with you."
Why it matters
Democrats Review was created as a space where democrats from across and beyond the European Union can think together in full freedom. Opening it to a voice writing from prison is the clearest possible statement of what that freedom is for — and a reminder that the EDP's commitment to the rule of law does not stop at the Union's borders.
Read the full article: Türkiye's Democracy on Trial, Europe's Security at Stake — Democrats Review, Issue 1/2026.
