Ankara arrests pro-Kurdish party mayors, appoints trustee

Nuriye Arslan and Hoşyar Sarıyıldız, co-mayors of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party's Mersin province’s Akdeniz District Municipality, were arrested and a trustee was appointed to the municipality. Anti-trustee protests have been growing in the district.

Tuesday January 14 2025 02:27 am

Duvar English

Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party's Akdeniz Municipality Co-Mayors Nuriye Arslan and Hoşyar Sarıyıldız on Jan. 13 were arrested and replaced with a trustee.

Along with the co-mayors, Deputy Mayor Özgür Çağlar, municipality council members Neslihan Oruç and Hikmet Bakırhan were also arrested on charges of “making propaganda for an illegal organization, membership in an armed organization, violation of the Law on Prevention of Financing of Terrorism and opposition to the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations.”

The municipal authorities who had been in charge for 10 months, faced accusations of protesting previous trustee appointments, purchasing stationery through an open tender, and "hiring personnel under the orders of a terrorist organization,” despite a hiring freeze in the municipality.

They were accused of having ties with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Akdeniz District Governor Zeyit Şener was appointed as the trustee to the municipality.

Protests against trustee appointment grows

Hundreds of police are deployed in the district against the protests.

The protests against the arrest of the co-mayors have been growing in the district since the trustee appointment.

Many DEM Party officials along with politicians from the main-opposition Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP), Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP), and Labor Party (EMEP) also attended the protests.

Police intervened in the group that attempted to walk towards the municipality building and detained at least five protestors.

DEM Party Mersin deputies Ali Bozan and Perihan Koca came together in front of the DEM Party district building and wanted to visit shopkeepers around.

The group was blockaded by hundreds of police officers in front of the district building.

Stating that they would not allow the visit to shopkeepers, the police attacked the crowd who wanted to negotiate. The group responded to the attack with the slogans “Pressures cannot deter us.”

Police teams have been using water cannons and tear gas in the district to prevent the protests from spreading.

Since the March 31, 2024 local elections, the government appointed trustees to a total of nine municipalities, including seven from the DEM Party and two from the CHP.