S.Amdt. 3390

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.
______