section_path: Background
section_name: Background
paragraph_text: Background
  
  Many opposition mayors have been arrested and removed from office, including the current president in 1999 and Kurdish party mayors in the south-east. European Judges for Democracy and Liberty say that the justice system is not independent and that there are “many examples of arbitrary justice and of unlawful detention in Turkey”. During the first couple of months of 2025 some activists, journalists and opposition mayor, were detained. Including the trial in 2022, there have been several investigations and trials of Ekrem İmamoğlu some of which are ongoing.