ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Council of Europe delegation on Friday denounced the arrest of a Turkish human rights and LGBTQ+ activist who was detained after delivering a speech critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government at a session of Europe’s leading human rights body.
Enes Hocaogullari, who took part in a March meeting of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, as one of Turkey’s youth delegates, was arrested last month after he criticized the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and other opposition figures.
The 23-year-old activist also spoke out against alleged police violence during protests that erupted following Imamoglu’s arrest.
Marc Cools, president of a delegation of the Council of Europe’s local and regional authorities congress, said there was no legal justification for Hocaogullari’s prosecution or detention.
“Silencing Enes is silencing youth — and silencing youth is silencing democracy itself,” Cools said after visiting Hocaogullari in prison Friday and meeting a day earlier with Turkey’s deputy justice minister and other officials in Ankara.
Hocaogullari was taken into custody at Ankara’s Esenboga airport in August and later charged with “publicly disseminating misleading information” and “inciting hatred and enmity among the public.”
The first hearing of his trial is scheduled for Sept. 8.
“We hope that justice will prevail, that all charges will be dropped, that he will be immediately released,” Cools said.
Imamoglu, a popular opposition figure seen as the main rival to Erdogan in the presidential elections, was arrested in March over allegations of corruption, which he strongly denies. He was officially nominated as the presidential candidate for the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, following his imprisonment.
Several other CHP mayors and municipal employees have also been arrested as part of investigations into alleged corruption. The CHP denies the accusations.
Critics view the arrests as a politically motivated crackdown on the CHP, which made significant gains in local elections last year. The government denies the accusation, asserting that the judiciary operates independently and that the investigations target serious corruption allegations.
Opposition parties and human rights organizations have accused Erdogan of undermining democracy and curbing freedom of expression during his more than two decades in power.
FILE - Republican People's Party, or CHP, candidate for Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu addresses supporters at his party headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)
BEIJING (AP) — Breaking with the United States, Canada has agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.
Carney made the announcement after two days of meetings with Chinese leaders. He said there would be an initial cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports to Canada, growing to 70,000 over five years. China will reduce its tariff on canola seeds, a major Canadian export, from about 84% to about 15%, he told reporters.
“It has been a historic and productive two days,” Carney said, speaking outside against the backdrop of a traditional pavilion and a frozen pond at a Beijing park. “We have to understand the differences between Canada and other countries, and focus our efforts to work together where we’re aligned.”
Earlier Friday, he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged to improve relations between their two nations after years of acrimony.
Xi told Carney in a meeting at the Great Hall of the People that he is willing to continue working to improve ties, noting that talks have been underway on restoring and restarting cooperation since the two held an initial meeting in October on the sidelines of a regional economic conference in South Korea.
“It can be said that our meeting last year opened a new chapter in turning China–Canada relations toward improvement,” China's top leader said.
Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China in eight years, said better relations would help improve a global governance system that he described as “under great strain.”
He called for a new relationship “adapted to new global realities” and cooperation in agriculture, energy and finance.
Those new realities reflect in large part the so-called America-first approach of U.S. President Donald Trump. The tariffs he has imposed have hit both the Canadian and Chinese economies. Carney, who has met with several leading Chinese companies in Beijing, said ahead of his trip that his government is focused on building an economy less reliant on the U.S. at what he called “a time of global trade disruption.”
A Canadian business owner in China called Carney's visit game-changing, saying it re-establishes dialogue, respect and a framework between the two nations.
“These three things we didn’t have,” said Jacob Cooke, the CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, which helps exporters navigate the Chinese market. “The parties were not talking for years.”
Canada had followed the U.S. in putting tariffs of 100% on EVs from China and 25% on steel and aluminum under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney’s predecessor.
China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola, an industry group has said. Overall, China's imports from Canada fell 10.4% last year to $41.7 billion, according to Chinese trade data.
China is hoping Trump’s pressure tactics on allies such as Canada will drive them to pursue a foreign policy that is less aligned with the United States. The U.S. president has suggested Canada could become America's 51st state.
Carney departs China on Saturday and visits Qatar on Sunday before attending the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next week. He will meet business leaders and investors in Qatar to promote trade and investment, his office said.
Associated Press business writer Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, center, arrives to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
