ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Protests erupted in Turkey's southeastern Aydin province after police clashed with demonstrators condemning the detention of pro-Kurdish municipal council members, a pro-Kurdish media outlet reported on Monday. Protests turned violent in the Yenipazar district of Aydin province, with demonstrators hurling Molotov cocktails and fireworks in response to what Mezopotamya Agency (MA) described as a "police attack" on the crowd. The protests were in response to the detention of pro-Kurdish members of a municipal council in the southern Mersin province and their replacement with a government-appointed trustee. According to the outlet, Perihan Koca and Ali Bozan, MPs from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) were in the protests. Mersin’s detained municipality members are also from the DEM Party. The outlet claimed that police arrested five people and injured "many" during the clashes. On Monday, the Turkish interior ministry said that it had dismissed a mayor and four municipal members affiliated with the DEM Party in Akdeniz municipality of Mersin following their arrest for charges related to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). They were detained by security forces on Friday. Since 2016, dozens of mayors have been dismissed and replaced with trustees. Many of the elected officials have been sentenced to jail on terror-related charges, often accused of association with the PKK. The crackdown comes amid renewed efforts aimed at brokering a ceasefire between the state and the PKK to end a conflict between them that has claimed the lives of over 40,000 people since it began in the 1980s. A delegation from the DEM Party was recently granted rare access to Imrali prison to meet jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. The delegates have held a series of talks with the leaders of Turkish political parties, parliament speaker, and other influential jailed Kurdish politicians since then, carrying Ocalan’s message.
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