[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 132 (Thursday, July 31, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5129-S5130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 3390. Mr. SCHIFF submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill S. 2296, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2026 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place in subtitle E of title XII, insert 
     the following:

     SEC. 12___. SENSE OF CONGRESS RELATING TO THE ARREST AND 
                   CONTINUED DETENTION OF EKREM IMAMOGLU.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
       (1) The Republic of Turkiye is a member of the North 
     Atlantic Treaty Organization, an important ally of the United 
     States, and, for many years, had been on a path to join the 
     European Union, a process that involved important democratic 
     and other reforms.
       (2) Ekrem Imamoglu was elected as Mayor of Istanbul, 
     Turkiye, in 2019, and was reelected in 2024.
       (3) Mr. Imamoglu was widely seen as a likely opposition 
     party candidate to compete in the 2028 Turkiye presidential 
     election.
       (4) On March 19, 2025, Turkish police detained Mr. Imamoglu 
     along with more than 100 other politicians, journalists, and 
     businessmen.
       (5) On March 23, 2025, Ekrem Imamoglu was formally arrested 
     and charged with corruption and terrorism charges, including 
     establishing and managing a criminal organization, taking 
     bribes, extortion, and aiding the Kurdistan Workers' Party 
     (PKK), and was subsequently charged with threatening Istanbul 
     Chief Prosecutor Akin Gurlek.
       (6) The leadership of the Government of Turkiye has been 
     subject to numerous allegations of corruption since 2013.
       (7) The Government of Turkiye has not provided any credible 
     evidence to the public to support the charges against Mr. 
     Imamoglu.
       (8) Widespread protests opposing the arrest and detention 
     of Mr. Imamoglu have erupted throughout Turkiye, constituting 
     the largest anti-government protests in Turkiye since the 
     Gezi Park protests in 2013.
       (9) Numerous human rights and pro-democracy organizations 
     and political figures in Turkiye have condemned the charges 
     against Mr. Imamoglu as baseless and politically motivated.
       (10) On March 23, 2025, the Republican People's Party, the 
     main opposition party in Turkiye, formally nominated Ekrem 
     Imamoglu as the party's candidate for president after 
     receiving nearly 15,000,000 votes in the primary election.
       (11) On April 11, 2025, Ekrem Imamoglu appeared in court in 
     Istanbul and denied all charges brought against him.
       (12) The Government of Turkiye, under the presidency of 
     Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has engaged in actions that undermine 
     democracy and the rule of law, as evidenced in the Department 
     of State's 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 
     which states the Government of Turkiye--
       (A) ``restricted equal competition and placed restrictions 
     on the fundamental freedoms of peaceful assembly and 
     expression''; and
       (B) ``restricted the activities of opposition political 
     parties, leaders, and officials, including through police 
     detention''.
       (13) May 19, 2025, marks 2 months since Ekrem Imamoglu was 
     arbitrarily detained in government custody.
       (14) The Department of State has taken minimal action to 
     directly confront the Government of Turkiye regarding the 
     politically motivated arrest and detention of Mayor Imamoglu, 
     unlike actions that the Department of State took in December 
     2022 to express its disappointment over political attacks 
     against Mayor Imamoglu.
       (15) On March 26, 2025, Elizabeth Throssell, a spokesperson 
     for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on 
     Human Rights, referencing the March 19, 2025 arrests of 
     protesters by the Turkish police, that all those detained 
     ``for the legitimate exercise of their rights must be 
     released immediately and unconditionally'' and that those 
     facing charges

[[Page S5130]]

     ``should be treated with dignity'' and ``their rights to due 
     process and a fair trial, including access to a lawyer of 
     their own choice, must be fully ensured''.
       (16) On April 9, 2025, the Parliamentary Assembly of the 
     Council of Europe called on the Government of Turkiye ``to 
     release immediately Ekrem Imamoglu''.
       (17) On May 8, 2025, Turkish authorities blocked the social 
     media account of Mayor Imamoglu, preventing him from 
     communicating with his supporters.
       (18) At least 3 mayors from the Republican People's Party, 
     as well as Mayor Imamoglu's defense attorney, have been 
     detained in Turkiye, which is part of a pattern of 
     politically motivated investigations into the main opposition 
     party.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) President Erdogan and law enforcement authorities in 
     Turkiye should present any credible evidence against Ekrem 
     Imamoglu and the detained mayors from the Republican People's 
     Party, or immediately release them from detention;
       (2) the Government of Turkiye should uphold democratic 
     values, including free and fair elections; and
       (3) the Secretary of State should issue forceful and timely 
     statements and to engage diplomatically with the Government 
     of Turkiye over anti-democratic behavior.
                                 ______