Turkey’s interior ministry announced on Friday that 4 mayors from the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) were removed from their posts on “terror-related charges.”
The ousted HDP mayors are as follows: Siirt Mayor Berivan Helen Işık, Iğdır Mayor Yaşar Akkuş and mayors from two districts of the Siirt province, Ramazan Sarsılmaz and Baran Akgül. The mayors are also reportedly detained by police as part of a terror-related investigation.
“Our Iğdır, Siirt, Kurtalan and Baykan municipalities have been seized by the AKP government this morning. The Erdoğan regime once again showed its hostility to the will of Kurdish people. We will not bow down to this regime undemocratic practices,” pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) tweeted on Friday.
Kurdish politicians, particularly members of the HDP, are often accused by Turkish government officials of having ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an insurgent group listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey.
Since the local elections in March 2019, 44 out of 65 mayors from the HDP ranks have been removed, while 6 mayors were not authorized by the Supreme Election Board (YSK) despite winning the popular vote.
Turkish police on Friday detained Berivan Helen Işık, the mayor of Siirt province from the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), and then hung a Turkish flag on the facade of the municipal building, via @metinyoksu || https://t.co/ycfn7087RD pic.twitter.com/cjMTkEqBhy
— Turkey Purge (@TurkeyPurge) May 15, 2020
Our Iğdır, Siirt, Kurtalan and Baykan municipalities have been seized by the AKP government this morning. The Erdoğan regime once again showed its hostility to the will of Kurdish people. We will not bow down to this regime undemocratic practices. #KayyumDarbedir pic.twitter.com/K1UjnQMTjV
— HDP English (@HDPenglish) May 15, 2020
Le coup d’Etat d’Erdogan se poursuit:4 mairies du parti kurde HDP ont été confisquées à Iğdır, Siirt, Kurtalan et Baykan. Arrestation des maires Berivan Helen Işık, Eylem Çelik,Ramazan Sarsılmaz et Baran Akgül en vue de leur remplacement par des agents du pouvoir #KayyumDarbedir pic.twitter.com/CgLCP96qKB
— Bahar Kimyongür (@Kimyongur) May 15, 2020
