''The continued detention of dozens of local elected representatives in Turkey, including Mrs Leyla Güven, a Congress member, remains a cause of grave concern for the Congress,'' stated Keith Whitmore, President of the Congress, in the framework of the Congress Monitoring Committee in Izmir, Turkey, on 4 July 2011. The ongoing detention of dozens of politicians in South-East Anatolia, has been repeatedly discussed by the Congress, most recently at its Statutory Forum on 17 June 2011. ''While it is not our intention to interfere with Turkish judicial procedures, the Congress insists that it is not in the spirit of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which Turkey has ratified, that the seats of local elected representatives remain vacant for such long periods of time'', he added. Keith Whitmore called on the Turkish authorities to grant the repeated request of the Congress to meet Mrs Güven.