DIYARBAKIR: Police detained a pro-Kurdish party mayor in southeast Turkiye on Monday over alleged militant links and he has been replaced by the state governor, the interior ministry said, two months after the mayor won power in local elections.
After previous municipal elections, Turkiye detained pro-Kurdish mayors, removing virtually all from their posts to be replaced by state officials over charges of ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Mehmet Siddik Akis, mayor of Hakkari province bordering Iran and Iraq, was accused of having a high-level role in the PKK militant group, the ministry said in a statement on X.
A security source said police teams carried out a search at the Hakkari municipal building and kept out members of Akis’ pro-Kurdish DEM party, the third largest in Turkiye’s parliament.
Akis and his lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment but his party was set to hold a news conference regarding the situation. DEM has previously denied any association with the PKK.
“The government, which is defeated by the will of the people every time, has again resorted to the way it knows best: usurping (the people’s) will and conducting a coup,” DEM said in a statement about the mayor’s arrest.
In the March 31 local elections, DEM reaffirmed its regional strength, winning 10 provinces in the mainly Kurdish southeast.
Turkish authorities accuse DEM and its pro-Kurdish predecessors of ties to the PKK, which is designated a terrorist group by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union.
Over 40,000 people have been killed in the PKK’s separatist insurgency against the Turkish state, launched in 1984.
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Turkiye arrests pro-Kurdish mayor two months after election
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Turkiye arrests pro-Kurdish mayor two months after election
Second Iranian ship heading to Sri Lanka after submarine attack
- A second Iranian warship was heading toward Sri Lanka’s territorial waters Thursday, a day after a US submarine destroyed an Iranian frigate, killing at least 87 sailors, a minister told parliament
GALLE: A second Iranian warship was heading toward Sri Lanka’s territorial waters Thursday, a day after a US submarine destroyed an Iranian frigate, killing at least 87 sailors, a minister told parliament.
Media minister Nalinda Jayatissa said the second Iranian warship was just outside Sri Lankan waters, but gave no further details.
Official sources said the vessel was carrying more than 100 crew and feared they too could be targeted the same way a sister vessel was sunk by a US submarine just off Sri Lanka’s southern coast on Wednesday.
The sinking came as the war sparked by a joint US-Israel attack on Iran continued to spread across the Middle East and beyond.
Authorities in the southern port city of Galle, meanwhile, were making preparations Thursday to hand over the remains of 87 Iranian sailors killed in the torpedo attack claimed by the US military.
Officials at the main hospital in Galle said 32 rescued Iranians were still being treated under tight security provided by police and elite commandos.
The Emergency Treatment Unit was off limits to visitors and other patients, with the medical authorities setting up a separate ward for the Iranians.
“Most of them have minor injuries, but there were a few with fractures and burns,” a nurse at the hospital said, without giving her name.
Navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath told AFP that Sri Lankan navy vessels were continuing their search for missing Iranian sailors.
Iran has not yet commented on the sinking.
Sri Lanka has remained neutral and has repeatedly urged dialogue to resolve the conflict in the Middle East.
Media minister Nalinda Jayatissa said the second Iranian warship was just outside Sri Lankan waters, but gave no further details.
Official sources said the vessel was carrying more than 100 crew and feared they too could be targeted the same way a sister vessel was sunk by a US submarine just off Sri Lanka’s southern coast on Wednesday.
The sinking came as the war sparked by a joint US-Israel attack on Iran continued to spread across the Middle East and beyond.
Authorities in the southern port city of Galle, meanwhile, were making preparations Thursday to hand over the remains of 87 Iranian sailors killed in the torpedo attack claimed by the US military.
Officials at the main hospital in Galle said 32 rescued Iranians were still being treated under tight security provided by police and elite commandos.
The Emergency Treatment Unit was off limits to visitors and other patients, with the medical authorities setting up a separate ward for the Iranians.
“Most of them have minor injuries, but there were a few with fractures and burns,” a nurse at the hospital said, without giving her name.
Navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath told AFP that Sri Lankan navy vessels were continuing their search for missing Iranian sailors.
Iran has not yet commented on the sinking.
Sri Lanka has remained neutral and has repeatedly urged dialogue to resolve the conflict in the Middle East.
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