Turkey fires pro-Kurdish mayor over alleged 'terrorist' links

Lina PortmanJune 3, 2024

0 1 minute read

The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Monday that a pro-Kurdish mayor had been removed from office and replaced by a local governor for alleged membership in a “terrorist” organization.

This is the first dismissal of a pro-Kurdish mayor since the March 31 local elections, in which the pro-Kurdish DEM party took control of 77 municipalities across Turkey.

“Mehmet…

The Turkish Interior Ministry announced on Monday that a pro-Kurdish mayor had been removed from office and replaced by a local governor for alleged membership in a “terrorist” organization.

This is the first dismissal of a pro-Kurdish mayor since the March 31 local elections, in which the pro-Kurdish DEM party took control of 77 municipalities across Turkey.

“Mehmet Siddik Akis was temporarily removed from his post,” the ministry said on the social network X and was placed in detention “for membership in a terrorist organization.”

Ali Celik, governor of the southeastern city of Hakkari, was appointed in Akis's place, the ministry said.

During local elections in March, the DEM – accused by the Turkish government of having links to outlawed Kurdish militants – took control of local authorities in several large towns in the Kurdish-majority southeast of the country. Turkey, including the region's largest city, Diyarbakir.

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More than 50 mayors elected in the southeast in the 2019 local elections on the HDP (now DEM) list were removed from office and replaced by state-appointed administrators due to alleged links to Kurdish militants .

The measures follow a 2016 coup attempt against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which sparked a massive crackdown on opponents of all sides.

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