Turkey accuses Europe of double standards over Imamoglu arrest

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday accused European politicians of applying double standards in their criticism of the arrest of opposition figure Ekrem Imamoglu, former mayor of Istanbul, Turkish daily Hürriyet reported.

"Some countries are trying to bring Imamoglu’s arrest to the international agenda, yet remained silent when Marine Le Pen was charged with corruption in France," Fidan said.

He also pointed to cases in Romania and Moldova, where, according to him, elected opposition figures faced political bans or arrest. "Did you condemn this? No," he said.

Fidan added that his European counterparts "fall silent" when confronted with such comparisons, accusing them of inconsistency and double standards: "If you don’t apply the same criteria to all, I won’t take your criticism seriously."

N.Tebrizli