Politics More pro-Kurdish mayors dismissed in Turkey

In Turkey, two pro-Kurdish mayors have been dismissed following convictions for terrorist memberships. The mayor of the eastern Turkish city of Tunceli, who belongs to the pro-Kurdish Dem party, was replaced in office by the local governor, the Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Friday (local time) on the X short message service. The head of the Ovacik district in Tunceli, which belongs to the CHP, the largest opposition party in Turkey, was also replaced by a local administrator.

Both mayors were convicted of membership in an armed terrorist organization, the Interior Ministry announced. This refers to the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses the Dem of being the extended arm of the PKK. The Dem rejects the accusation.

The party reacted indignantly to the dismissal of the elected representatives. The government continues to undermine the will of the people step by step with the help of "politically motivated court rulings", wrote Dem on X. CHP leader Özgür Özel condemned the move as a "theft of the national will": In the case of the mayor of Ovacik, his presence at a funeral in 2012 had been the basis for the prosecution.

The Turkish government had already dismissed three pro-Kurdish mayors in the south-east of the country at the beginning of November due to alleged terrorist links. A district mayor of Istanbul, who belonged to the CHP, was also arrested at the end of October for his alleged links to the PKK. The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey, Europe and the USA, has been fighting against the Turkish state since the 1980s.

SDA