Turkey’s interior ministry announced on Monday the removal of a 10th pro-Kurdish party mayor in eastern Turkey in less than a year for alleged ties to terrorism, Agence France-Presse reported.
The development targeting a mayor of Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) — the third largest political group in the parliament — comes as the party leads negotiations with jailed leader of outlawed Kurdish militants Abdullah Öcalan to end the four-decade conflict.
“Mehmet Alkan, mayor of the Kağızman district in the province of Kars, has been temporarily suspended from his duties by the interior ministry because he was sentenced to six years and three months in jail on charges of membership of an armed terror group,” the interior ministry said in a statement.
The DEM Party condemned the action as part of the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) Party’s “war against the people’s right to vote and to be elected,” in a message on X.
Ankara has stepped up the pressure on pro-Kurdish movements and sympathizers accused of “terrorism,” even as it pursues talks with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) listed as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies.
The PKK has waged a war against the Turkish state since 1984 that has left more than 40,000 people dead.