One killed in post-election violence in Turkey's southeastern Siirt province

The brother of an opposition DEVA Party candidate was killed, and four other people were injured in clashes between opponents and supporters of the newly elected ruling AKP mayor of Siirt's Pervari district in a predominantly Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey.

Wednesday April 03 2024 03:15 pm

Reuters

The brother of an opposition candidate was killed and four other people injured in clashes between opponents and supporters of the newly elected ruling-party mayor of a city district in a predominantly Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey.

Supporters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) clashed with backers of the right-wing opposition DEVA Party in the Pervari district of the Siirt province on April 2, following local elections on March 31 in which the opposition mostly performed well across Turkey.

In the district, the AKP candidate for mayor won with 52 percent of the vote, while the DEVA candidate placed second with 40 percent.

The governor's office said five people had been hurt in the clashes, one of whom died of his wounds. The DEVA deputy chairman Mehmet Emin Ekmen identified the person who died as the brother of the party's candidate.

DEVA was one of six parties in the opposition alliance before May 2023 general elections when Erdoğan secured another 5-year mandate and his ruling alliance a parliamentary majority.

Police are investigating the incident and six people were detained, the Siirt governor's office said, adding that it had imposed a curfew in Pervari district until April 4 morning for security reasons.

Pervari İlçe merkezinde belediye başkanlığı seçimini kazanan ve kaybeden iki grup arasında dün gece saat 22:45 civarında başlayan tartışma sonrasında çıkan silahlı kavga neticesinde 5 kişi yaralanmıştır.

İhbar üzerine olay yerine 112 Acil Sağlık, polis ve jandarma ekiplerimiz… pic.twitter.com/6M3UgiKJ5n
— Siirt Valiliği (@SiirtValiligi) April 3, 2024

Protests also spread elsewhere in Turkey's southeastern provinces on April 2 night, after Turkish authorities prevented the newly elected mayor from the pro-Kurdish DEM party taking up his post in the city of Van, and announced a re-run vote in Şanlıurfa's Hilvan district where AKP lost.

Footage showed protesters in Batman province firing firecrackers at police, who sprayed them with water cannons, while scores of security personnel were stationed around Hakkari city, where protests also took hold.