There’s a case to be made that the international response to the detention of Ekrem Imamoglu, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s potential nemesis, has been rather slow in coming. Could it partly be that, on the one hand, Europe is wary of directing heavy criticism at Turkey right now because, given the rising and menacing threat of a hostile Russia, it suddenly finds Ankara that much more important as a defence and security partner, while, on the other hand, Donald Trump appears to have a disturbing affinity with the strongmen of the world?

Whatever the reality behind the lack of expressed disquiet, among the reactions that have occurred so far, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, did at least tell reporters: “From the information we have [about the Imamoglu detention], we certainly hope that the normal rules for due process will be followed and that this will go in accordance with the laws of Turkey.”

Reuters, meanwhile, reported a German foreign ministry spokesman as stating that the move against Imamoglu was “a serious setback” and that the position would be communicated in the appropriate manner to Berlin’s Turkish partners

“For us, respect for democratic and constitutional principles is a fundamental prerequisite for a functioning democracy,” added the spokesperson at a regular government news conference.

The reaction of Europe’s top human rights body, the Council of Europe, was that it “strongly condemned” the detention of Imamoglu as a move against the will of the people.

In a statement, also reported by Reuters, a congress on local and regional authorities at the institution said that the move “bears all the hallmarks of the pressure on a political figure”, adding that the congress would put the issue on its agenda for a meeting due next week. 

Of the responses from international human rights groups, Amnesty International issued a press release in which Dinushika Dissanayake, the group’s deputy regional director for Europe, said: “Today’s draconian actions represent a massive escalation in the Turkish authorities’ ongoing crackdown on peaceful dissent and the targeting of the main political opposition party CHP, just days before it is expected to choose the Istanbul Mayor as its presidential candidate. 

“While the weaponization of vague anti-terrorism allegations to detain and prosecute opponents is not new [in Turkey], these latest detentions and associated restrictions represent an alarming intensification of the targeting of real or perceived critics, main opposition and others, and a further suffocation of civil society’s ability to exercise their right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

“The drastic rollback of human rights witnessed in Türkiye over the last decade has laid the ground for a level of impunity for human rights violations that should be challenged.”

Veteran Turkey analyst Timothy Ash said in a post on his Substack blog that for Turkey “there must now be fears over political and social stability. Imamoglu is a revered figure in opposition circles and beat the ruling AKP’s candidate by a wide margin in last year’s local elections. He is popular and has a strong following.

“While a ban has been placed on demonstrations for 48 hours, I think the fear is of large-scale protests by the opposition this weekend with the fear therein that they could evolve into something Gezi [Park] like. Likely though we will also then see large counter demonstrations by pro AKP supporters and this could all end up in a scenario of duelling protests. The risks of demonstrations being mishandled is real.”