Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democratic member of the US Congress, has called for the immediate release of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, describing his detention as “this outrage against democracy and the rule of law.”
“I want to tell Mayor Imamoglu that you have many people in the United States Congress closely following this outrage against democracy and the rule of law, and we are wishing your family happy holidays and we are working and demanding to see that you be released,” Raskin said as he spoke at the US Congress on Friday.
İmamoğlu, a leading figure in the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and its presidential candidate for the next election, was detained on March 19 and put in pretrial detention on March 23 in what critics described as a politically motivated corruption investigation. He is widely seen as the most powerful political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Raskin described İstanbul as Turkey’s largest city and one of the world’s great cities, home to about 16 million people.
He recalled that İmamoğlu was elected mayor three times and has focused on improving public infrastructure as well as expanding access to nutrition and health services for children.
A Democratic member of the US Congress, @RepRaskin, has called for the immediate release of Istanbul Mayor @ekrem_imamoglu, describing his detention as “this outrage against democracy and the rule of law.”
Speaking at the US Congress on Friday, Raskin said many lawmakers are… pic.twitter.com/ni4XoQArXM
— Turkish Minute (@TurkishMinuteTM) December 20, 2025
İmamoğlu was elected twice in 2019 when the result of the first vote was contested by Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on the grounds of irregularities.
He won by a larger margin in the repeat vote that same year.
His latest election was in the March 2024 local elections, when he won 51.2 percent of the vote in the city.
Raskin also talked about how the Turkish government has exerted pressure on İmamoğlu and his family, saying the Turkish government has seized his family business, suspended his social media account, revoked his university diploma and imposed a ban on public images and posters featuring the mayor.
A Turkish court ordered the seizure of a construction company owned by İmamoğlu one day after his detention in March, while his university diploma was revoked a day before he was taken into custody along with more than 100 others.
The revocation of his diploma makes him ineligible to run for president, as a university degree is a legal requirement for the office in Turkey.
İmamoğlu’s main X account was blocked in Turkey on May 8 following a court decision that deemed one of his messages from prison a national security threat.
His campaign accounts on X were also blocked several times under court orders citing the protection of “national security” and “public order.”
İmamoğlu and his party say the arrest is politically motivated and legally baseless and is aimed at sidelining him in the next presidential election.