Twenty-two governors from the country’s east and southeast regions have gathered in Ankara for a security summit chaired by Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu.
Governors of Adıyaman, Ağrı, Ardahan, Batman, Bitlis, Bingöl, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Gaziantep, Hakkari, Iğdır, Kars, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Mardin, Muş, Siirt, Şanlıurfa, Şırnak, Tunceli and Van provinces attended the meeting on Sunday.
The summit was held to discuss Turkey’s fight against terrorism in the country’s restive southeast, according to Turkish media reports.
There have been intense clashes between the Turkish military forces and the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the country ‘s southeast since the end of a settlement process in July 2015.
In a controversial move earlier this month, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) removed 28 elected mayors from office and replaced them with trustees. Most of the removed mayors were from the country’s predominantly Kurdish southeast.