Statements

On the 20th of March, 2025, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul and potentially the strongest opponent of Türkiye’s current president in the upcoming presidential elections, was arrested over allegations of corruption and links to terrorism - claims that have raised significant concerns about their credibility and timing. This arrest and other repeatedly dismissed accusations against opposition show how this case is less about justice and more about political interests. Immediately after the incident, the government imposed a nationwide ban on gatherings, protests, and demonstrations without prior approval. The ban was enforced by city governors, who are directly appointed [...]

February 24th 2025 marks three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This attack is a continuation of violence and violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity that started with Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 after the Maidan Revolution. For 1095 days, Ukraine has been fighting for its right to exist as an independent state, a right that Russia denies and that more than 46000 Ukrainian soldiers have given their lives for, while more than 390000 have been injured on the battlefield (kyiv independent quoting president Zelensky). Russia continues to commit numerous human rights abuses in Ukraine, including [...]

Last Monday, September 16th, Germany reestablished border checks on its borders with Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Denmark. This move is not an isolated event; in fact, it marks the fourth instance in just six months that Germany has given notice of temporarily reintroducing border controls. In addition to Germany - Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Norway, Sweden and France have all implemented such measures over the past six months [1], citing concerns over security, migration control and public safety as reasons for these actions [1]. All these facts combined signal a growing trend that indicates a significant shift in European mobility [...]

On 24th February 2022, exactly two years ago, Russia launched its unprovoked and unjustifiable full scale invasion of Ukraine. This full scale attack was a further escalation of the ongoing conflict since February 2014, when Russia illegally occupied and annexed Crimea, later supporting separatists in the regions of Donbas and Luhansk, where the fighting was ongoing for 8 years before the escalation.  The full scale invasion has led to immense human suffering, the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, including tens of thousands of civilian casualties. Since the escalation of the war, nearly 1 800 children have been killed. [...]

AEGEE-Europe is deeply concerned about the recent reports at the European borders. On June 14, 2023, a fishing boat that departed Libya and was carrying hundreds of migrants sank near the coast of Greece. This tragedy, which resulted in the death of almost everyone on board, happened in a context where both FRONTEX, the EU’s border control agency, and the Greek authorities made no rescue attempts (International Rescue Committee, 2023). More recently, another tragedy occured on August 3, and to this date, only 4 survivors were rescued by a merchant vessel near Lampedusa, while 41 people are still missing (United [...]