Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) have decided not to take part in parliamentary sessions for a week in protest of the recent removal of their elected mayors from their posts, Euronews Turkish edition reported.
On Monday the Interior Ministry announced the removal of three DEM Party mayors of the southeastern cities of Mardin and Batman as well as Halfeti — a district in Şanlıurfa province — in the Kurdish-majority southeast on terrorism charges.
The ministry’s move came less than a week after a CHP district mayor in İstanbul’s Esenyurt district was arrested and subsequently dismissed from his post over terror-related allegations.
All of the mayors who were dismissed have been replaced by government-appointed trustees.
The removal of democratically elected mayors has sparked protests in İstanbul and the predominantly Kurdish southeast, where protestors, including CHP and DEM Party lawmakers and other officials, came together to protest what they described as a “coup” against the will of the people.
DEM Party deputy group chairman Gülistan Koçyiğit told Euronews on Monday that her party will not take part in any parliamentary session this week, adding that DEM Party co-chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan will go to Batman and then to Mardin, and that the DEM Party’s weekly parliamentary group meeting will be held in Mardin on Tuesday. Koçyiğit also announced that DEM Party lawmakers will join protestors in the municipalities whose mayors were removed in an act of solidarity.
The CHP also announced that its lawmakers will not attend the parliamentary sessions this week. The party’s supporters and officials have been holding protests against the removal and arrest of mayor Ahmet Özer in front of the Esenyurt municipal building in İstanbul.
CHP leader Özgür Özel traveled to Mardin on Monday to extend his support to the city’s ousted mayor, Ahmet Türk, who is 82 years old. Özel made a statement to the press in front of city hall alongside Türk, saying that Kurds have repeatedly elected Türk whenever he ran for office over the past 50 years.
He described Türk as a “dove of peace” who has always defended dialogue and peaceful means to resolve the problems of the country’s Kurdish population, estimated to make up 20 percent of Turkey’s population.
Türk was also removed from office after his election as mayor of Mardin in the local elections of 2019.
Kayyım atanan Mardin Büyükşehir Belediyesi önünde açıklama yapıyoruz https://t.co/EM7XC84IbH
— Özgür Özel (@eczozgurozel) November 4, 2024
Özel was also expected to visit Batman and Halfeti to extend his support to their ousted mayors.
Meanwhile, a top official from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Abdullah Güler, said in a statement in Parliament on Monday that trustee appointments will continue within the scope of law, adding that municipalities are not “venues of freedom” for mayors to commit crimes.
All four mayors have been removed from their posts for convictions and charges on terrorism-related offenses, from membership in an armed group to disseminating propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that has killed thousands and is formally recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.
Dozens of pro-Kurdish mayors from predecessor parties have been removed from their posts on similar charges in the past. Notably, however, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has recently once again called for outreach to the Kurdish community.