Turkish opposition parties called for protests on Thursday over what they said was the politically motivated arrest of an opposition mayor for alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Agence France-Presse reported.
Several hundred protestors rallied on Wednesday evening outside an İstanbul courthouse where Ahmet Özer, mayor of the İstanbul district of Esenyurt, was charged several hours after being arrested.
Özer belongs to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which denounced the allegations as “baseless.”
Both the CHP and pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which also slammed his arrest as a “political coup” called for a protest at 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) outside Esenyurt town hall, which is on the European side of İstanbul.
The interior ministry said Özer was arrested for “membership of the PKK terror organization,” saying it had appointed İstanbul’s deputy governor to replace him.
The PKK, which since 1984 has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that has killed thousands, is listed as a terror organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
CHP leader Özgür Özel denounced the arrest on Wednesday as “based on abstract allegations and statements in a book [Özer] wrote years ago” and pledged to put up “the strongest possible response.”
The protests outside the court were joined by İstanbul’s powerful opposition mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, a major figure in the CHP.
The DEM Party also slammed the move as “unlawful” and said its leadership would be at Thursday’s protest.
A university professor, Özer was elected in March when opposition candidates won in numerous towns and cities across Turkey, including İstanbul.
But the election authority’s removal of a DEM Party candidate who had been elected mayor of the eastern city of Van triggered a string of violent opposition protests.
The candidate was later reinstated.