DIYARBAKIR, Turkey: Eight more mayors from Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party were dismissed on Monday on suspicion of links with Kurdish militants and were replaced by government-appointed trustees, the interior ministry said.
The mayor of Batman city and fellow mayors from Ergani, Egil, Lice and Silvan in Diyarbakir province in southeastern Turkey were removed from their posts, the ministry said in a statement.
Another three mayors were suspended from districts in the eastern and southeastern provinces of Bitlis, Igdir and Siirt, it added.
The mayors are all suspected of being members of an armed terror group, according to the ministry.
Earlier on Monday, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said five mayors replaced had been detained, as well as a sixth who had previously been removed.
Turkey accuses the HDP — the country’s third-largest party — of links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a bloody insurgency against the state since 1984.
The PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.
The government has cracked down on the HDP, with a total of 40 mayors replaced since March 2019 local elections.
Turkey dismisses eight more pro-Kurdish mayors
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Turkey dismisses eight more pro-Kurdish mayors
- The mayor of Batman city and fellow mayors from Ergani, Egil, Lice and Silvan in Diyarbakir province in southeastern Turkey were removed from their posts
- The government has cracked down on the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), with a total of 40 mayors replaced since March 2019 local elections
Trump administration labels 3 Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations
- The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization
- “These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence,” Rubio said
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for US relationships with allies Qatar and Turkiye.
The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year under an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups, which US officials say engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence.
Trump’s executive order had singled out the chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, noting that a wing of the Lebanese chapter had launched rockets on Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that set off the war in Gaza. Leaders of the group in Jordan have provided support to Hamas, the order said.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 but was banned in that country in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April.
Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said some allies of the US, including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, would likely be pleased with the designation.
“For other governments where the brotherhood is tolerated, it would be a thorn in bilateral relations,” including in Qatar and Turkiye, he said.
Brown also said a designation on the chapters may have effects on visa and asylum claims for people entering not just the US but also Western European countries and Canada.
“I think this would give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion, and it might make courts less likely to question any kind of official action against Brotherhood members who are seeking to stay in this country, seeking political asylum,” he said.
Trump, a Republican, weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office. Some prominent Trump supporters, including right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, have pushed his administration to take aggressive action against the group.
Two Republican-led state governments — Florida and Texas — designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.
