ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey on Monday sacked three mayors in its southeast Kurdish region on “terrorism” charges and replaced them with government-appointed trustees, the interior ministry announced.
The Kurdish mayors of the cities of Mardin and Batman, as well as Halfeti in Sanliurfa province, were removed from their positions and replaced with government-appointed trustees, the interior ministry said. All three mayors are from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party).
They include veteran Kurdish politician Ahmet Turk of Mardin, Gulistan Sonuk of Batman, and Mehmet Karayilan of Sanliurfa’s Halfeti district.
“Never give up. We will not step back from the struggle for democracy, peace, and freedom. We will not allow the usurpation of the people’s will. Let this be known!” Turk, who in May was sentenced to ten years in prison in the Kobane trials, said on X following the decision.
Alongside Turk, both Sonuk and Karayilan have been handed prison sentences for alleged “membership in a terrorist organization” charges, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The Turkish government has recently turned the heat up against the DEM Party and its elected mayors. In June, a Turkish court sentenced the party’s mayor in Hakkari (Colemerg), Mehmet Siddik Akis, to 19.5 years in prison for alleged affiliation with the PKK. Akis was removed from his position days before the court ruling and was replaced by a state-appointed trustee.
The removal of Kurdish mayors and their replacement with trustees is not new. Dozens of Kurdish mayors affiliated with other pro-Kurdish parties have been dismissed and replaced with trustees for terror-related charges since 2016, with many of them being sentenced to jail. The DEM Party denies any links to the group and maintains it is merely pro-Kurdish.
On Wednesday, Kurdish mayor Ahmet Ozer of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) was arrested due to alleged PKK links and quickly replaced with a trustee.
Thousands of Kurdish politicians and supporters of pro-Kurdish parties, mainly DEM Party’s predecessor the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), have been jailed in the past decade for PKK-linked charges. A large number of them remain behind bars.
DEM Party scored several significant victories in the March election. It took Diyarbakir, Mardin, Batman, Siirt, Hakkari, Van, and Igdir provinces, which its sister party, the HDP, won in 2019 only to have their mayors removed because of alleged links with Kurdish rebels and replaced by state-appointed administrators.
