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.
The old city of Mardin © Mena Today
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.
Reporting by Daren Butler
A teenager opened fire at a high school in Turkey's southeastern province of Sanliurfa on Tuesday, wounding at least 16 people including students and teachers before killing himself, the province's governor said.
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