Two opposition mayors in eastern Turkey were removed from office after being convicted of “terrorism” for belonging to a banned Kurdish militant group, the interior minister said on Friday, Agence France-Presse reported.
The mayors of Tunceli and Ovacık were each sentenced to six years, three months in prison this week for membership of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been waging a war against the Turkish state since 1984.
Both were replaced by state-appointed administrators, the interior ministry said in a statement, in the latest ousting of politicians associated with Turkey’s Kurdish minority.
Tunceli’s deposed mayor, Cevdet Konak, is a member of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party.
The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party is regularly targeted by the authorities, which accuse it of having links to the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies.
Ovacık’s ousted mayor, Mustafa Sarıgül, is affiliated with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which came out on top in local elections held at the end of March.
Both Konak and Sarıgül told local press on Thursday that the accusations against them were unfounded.
Angry protestors gathered Friday evening in front of Tunceli city hall, where some people tried to force their way through a police cordon, according to images published by several local media groups.
In late October and early November, the pro-Kurdish mayors of three towns in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast as well the CHP mayor of Istanbul’s most populous district were likewise dismissed on “terrorism” charges.
Their dismissals sparked protests and were condemned by the Council of Europe and human rights organizations.
Konak’s party late Friday condemned the dismissal of both mayors, saying that “the government is slowly destroying the will of the people.”
CHP leader Özgür Özel denounced the “theft of the will of the nation.”