“As a Council of Europe [the international human rights organization] member and EU candidate, Turkey must uphold democratic values. The rights of elected officials as well as right of peaceful demonstration need to be fully respected,” he added.
However, the spokesperson said that at this stage he “will not speculate on possible cancellations” of high-level dialogues between the EU and Turkey scheduled for April.
İmamoğlu, a highly popular secularist who was widely viewed as a contender to oust Erdoğan, was on Monday officially nominated as a presidential candidate by opposition — despite being jailed on Sunday.
