The Turkish Authorities Arrested Five More Pro-Kurdish Mayors on Friday
The Turkish authorities arrested five more pro-Kurdish mayors on Friday because they allegedly have ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The Ministry of the Interior announced this.
The mayors of Siirt, Igdir and three other small towns in predominantly Kurdish east and southeast Turkey have been taken into custody, the ministry said in a statement.
They have also been “temporarily suspended” and replaced by government-appointed directors, the Interior Minister added.
The five arrested mayors are members of the HDP, the main pro-Kurdish party in Turkey. The party has been the target of repression for years.
The party’s figurehead, Selahattin Demirtas, and a former presidential rival to President Erdogan has been in prison since 2016.
