Turkey replaces pro-Kurdish mayors with state officials in southeast

Turkey stripped three elected pro-Kurdish mayors of their posts in southeastern cities on Monday, for convictions and charges on terrorism-related offences, the interior ministry said, appointing state officials in their places instead.

Local governors replaced the mayors in the provincial centres of Mardin and Batman, while the mayor of Halfeti in Sanliurfa province was also unseated, it added.

All belonged to the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, which has 57 seats in the national parliament. Dozens of pro-Kurdish mayors from its predecessor parties have been removed from their posts on similar charges in the past.

Last week, a mayor from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) was arrested after prosecutors accused him of belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), banned as a terrorist group in Turkey.

The changes followed a proposal by President Tayyip's Erdogan main ally last month aimed at ending the state's 40-year conflict with the PKK.