ISTANBUL: A ninth mayor from Turkiye’s pro-Kurdish DEM party, the third largest in parliament, has been removed from office because of alleged links to a “terrorist organisation”, the interior ministry said on Saturday.

The suspension of the mayor of Van, a majority Kurdish city in the east of the country, came with negotiations underway between the government and the historic head of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been in an armed struggle with the state since 1984.

“Sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for aiding a terrorist organisation, the mayor of the municipality of Van, Abdullah Zeydan, has been temporarily suspended from his duties,” the interior ministry said in a statement, adding that the governor of the region had been named to replace him. The local governor replaced Abdullah Zeydan. Opposition website Bir Gun denounced what it said was a “coup d’etat against the people”, and said Zeydan had refused to sign the document dismissing him. “Shameless thieves have usurped the will of the people,” the mayor said on his X account.

Since his Feb 11 conviction, which he has appealed, thousands of Zeydan’s supporters have gathered in front of the headquarters of the Van municipality, from which they were evicted at dawn by police. According to local news agency ANKA, there were 127 arrests.

The DEM party denounced a “coup against our municipality of Van and a blow to the will of the people”, noting that Zeydan was elected in March with more than 55 per cent of the votes. Other party leaders said the government was sending mixed signals.

“On the one hand, dialogue goes on, on the other, the will of the people is being confiscated,” said one of DEM’s co-presidents, Tuncer Bakirhan, calling on the government to “show sincerity”.

Opposition politicians have faced a series of legal probes, detentions and arrests in what critics say is a government effort to muzzle dissent and hurt their electoral prospects. Turkiye’s government dismisses accusations of political interference in the cases and says the judiciary is independent.

Eleven mayors, nine from DEM and two from the main opposition CHP party, have been dismissed since March 2024 local elections. Since 2016, dozens of mayors of Kurdish localities have been removed from office and replaced by administrators.

This Saturday marks the 26th anniversary of the arrest of PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, who is imprisoned on an island off the coast of Istanbul. On Friday, a legal probe into a top official at Turkiye’s main business group TUSIAD was launched over his criticisms on the recent judicial crackdown on opposition leaders, mayors and journalists.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2025