Support from Nuremberg Mayor for Arrested Muhittin Böcek

Support came from Nuremberg, the sister city in Germany, to Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Muhittin Böcek , who was last arrested as part of the investigations into CHP local governments.

"The arrest of my colleague Muhittin Böcek and other mayors in Türkiye, although the exact background has not yet been verified, causes me great concern," said Nuremberg Mayor Marcus König in a press release. König's statement on the Nuremberg Municipality website reads as follows:

“The arrest of Mayor Muhittin Böcek concerns me greatly. In the latest wave of arrests in Türkiye, Nuremberg’s sister city Antalya’s Mayor Muhittin Böcek was also arrested. Böcek is a member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and has been in office since 2019. Although the background to these developments cannot be fully verified at this time, the arrest of my colleague Muhittin Böcek and other mayors in Türkiye concerns me greatly. But in any case, the following remains true: The foundation of a stable democratic state order is always local self-government; the foundation of this is the free will of elected local politicians.

The Nuremberg Municipality calls on the Turkish government to respect the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. The Turkish government must protect local elected officials in particular, guarantee their freedom and ensure that they can exercise their rights without being influenced. I believe that legal action will be initiated for Muhittin Böcek and all our colleagues affected by recent events."

Nuremberg, which has been a sister city with Antalya since 1997, is among the 15 largest cities in Germany with a population of over 500,000. People of Turkish origin make up the largest immigrant community in Nuremberg, which is among the country's most important industrial centers.