ANKARA: Turkiye on Saturday removed another elected pro-Kurdish provincial mayor over convictions on terrorism-related charges and appointed a state official in his place, the interior ministry said.
The local governor replaced Abdullah Zeydan, a member of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party and mayor of the eastern province of Van because of his recent conviction for “assisting an armed terrorist organization,” the ministry said in a statement.
Eight DEM Party-member mayors and two main opposition CHP-member mayors across Turkiye have been removed from their posts over terrorism-related charges since March 2024 local elections. Another CHP-member mayor has been under arrest over tender-rigging charges.
DEM, which has 57 seats in the 600-seat parliament, said the trustee appointment to the Van municipality was “a blow to people’s will,” and it will not “bow to this unlawfulness.”
Opposition politicians have faced a series of legal probes, detentions and arrests in what critics say is a government effort to muzzle dissent and hurt their electoral prospects.
Turkiye’s government dismisses accusations of political interference in the cases and says the judiciary is independent.
On Friday, a legal probe into a top official at Turkiye’s main business group TUSIAD was launched over his criticisms on the recent judicial crackdown on opposition leaders, mayors and journalists.
The European Parliament on Thursday condemned the legal actions against opposition mayors as a “disregard of the rule of law and the government’s violation of the fundamental principles of democracy.”
Saturday’s move also comes amid talks, supported by the government, with the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, to seek an end to a 40-year conflict between the PKK and Turkish state.
Turkiye replaces pro-Kurdish mayor in east with state official, ministry says
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Turkiye replaces pro-Kurdish mayor in east with state official, ministry says
German parliament speaker visits Gaza
- Germany has been one of Israel’s staunchest supporters as the European power seeks to atone for the legacy of the Holocaust
BERLIN: The speaker of Germany’s lower house of parliament briefly visited the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the body told AFP.
Julia Kloeckner spent “about an hour in the part of Gaza controlled by Israeli army forces,” parliament said, becoming the first German official to visit the territory since Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023 that sparked the devastating war.
Since the start of the conflict, Israel has drastically restricted access to the densely populated coastal strip.
In a statement shared by her office, Kloeckner said it was essential for politicians to have access to “reliable assessments of the situation” in Gaza.
“I expressly welcome the fact that Israel has now, for the first time, granted me, a parliamentary observer, access to the Gaza Strip,” she said.
However, she was only able to gain a “limited insight” into the situation on the ground during her trip, she said.
Kloeckner appealed to Israel to “continue on this path of openness” and emphasized that the so-called yellow line, which designates Israeli military zones inside the Gaza Strip, must “not become a permanent barrier.”
The German foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.
Germany has been one of Israel’s staunchest supporters as the European power seeks to atone for the legacy of the Holocaust.
But in recent months, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has occasionally delivered sharp critiques of Israeli policy as German public opinion turns against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
In August, Germany imposed a partial arms embargo on Israel, which was lifted in November after the announcement of what has proved to be a fragile ceasefire for Gaza.
Merz visited Israel in December and reaffirmed Germany’s support.
But in a sign of lingering tension, Germany’s foreign ministry on Wednesday criticized Israeli plans to tighten control over the occupied West Bank as a step toward “de facto annexation.”
