Cumali Atilla, a trustee appointed by the government to administer the eastern province of Diyarbakır, fired actors employed by the municipal-funded city theater.
The government previously jailed the pro-Kurdish co-mayors of Diyarbakır and appointed Atilla to run Turkey’s largest Kurdish province.
According to Turkish media, Atilla canceled the contracts of 31 actors working for the Diyarbakır Municipal City Theater (DBŞT) for various reasons.
It is unclear whether the municipality will continue operating the DBŞT or not.
Turkey has stepped up its crackdown on the Kurdish minority in recent months. Trustees have been appointed to dozens of municipalities in the country’s predominantly Kurdish Southeast, while Turkish courts earlier this month arrested 11 Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies including the party Co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ. (Turkey Purge)