On April 10, the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) continues in Strasbourg, France. As part of the session, special discussions on Turkiye were held yesterday. The main topics of discussion included the arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and the overall state of human rights and democracy in Turkiye.
Commenting on these discussions, human rights defender Ahmad Shahidov gave an interview today to Turkiye’s TV5 channel in Strasbourg, where the session is taking place. In the interview, Ahmad Shahidov evaluated the speeches made about Turkiye at PACE, the adopted documents, and the political and legal significance of the debates.
Ahmad Shahidov noted that some of the speeches were politically motivated and stated that such approaches undermine the impartiality of international institutions. He also emphasized the importance of applying human rights and democracy standards equally to all countries.
