Mansur Yavaş reacts to the arrest of Tanju Özcan
Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mansur Yavaş reacted to the arrest of Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan, stating that detention is an exception. Yavaş said, "A mayor will go and give their statement when summoned. There is no explanation for this practice against a person who has no flight risk, no possibility of tampering with evidence, and who continues to perform their duties in the public eye, and it does not find resonance in the public conscience."
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Making a statement on his social media account, Yavaş said, "We have defended the same principle from the very beginning. Detention is an exception. The essential principle is that trials should be conducted without detention.
The arrest decision issued against our Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan has once again clearly damaged this fundamental legal principle.
A mayor will go and give their statement when summoned. There is no explanation for this practice against a person who has no flight risk, no possibility of tampering with evidence, and who continues to perform their duties in the public eye, and it does not find resonance in the public conscience.
No one is above the law, but the law cannot be turned into a show of force against anyone either. It should not be forgotten that it is not just one person who is harmed. What is harmed is the trust in democracy, the will of the Turkish nation, and the reputation of the rule of law," he stated.