ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s interior ministry announced on Monday the removal of a 10th pro-Kurdish party mayor in eastern Turkiye in less than a year for alleged ties.
The development targeting a mayor of DEM party — the third largest political group in the parliament — comes as the party leads negotiations with jailed leader of outlawed Kurdish militants Abdullah Ocalan to end the four-decade conflict.
“Mehmet Alkan, mayor of the Kagizman district in the province of Kars, has been temporarily suspended from his duties by the interior ministry because he was sentenced to six years and three months in jail on charges of membership of an armed terror group,” the interior ministry said in a statement.
The DEM condemned the action as part of the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) Party’s “war against the people’s right to vote and to be elected,” in a message on X.
Ankara has stepped up the pressure on pro-Kurdish movements and sympathizers accused of “terrorism,” even as it pursues talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) listed as a terror group by Turkiye and much of the international community.
The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 that has left more than 40,000 people dead.
10th pro-Kurdish party mayor removed in eastern Turkiye
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10th pro-Kurdish party mayor removed in eastern Turkiye
Death toll in Iran protests over 3,000, rights group says
- The protests erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule
- President Donald Trump, who had threatened ‘very strong action’ if Iran executed protesters, said Tehran’s leaders had called off mass hangings
DUBAI: More than 3,000 people have died in Iran’s nationwide protests, rights activists said on Saturday, while a “very slight rise” in Internet activity was reported in the country after an eight-day blackout.
The US-based HRANA group said it had verified 3,090 deaths, including 2,885 protesters, after residents said the crackdown appeared to have broadly quelled protests for now and state media reported more arrests.
The capital Tehran has been comparatively quiet for four days, said several residents reached by Reuters. Drones were flying over the city, but there were no signs of major protests on Thursday or Friday, said the residents, who asked not to be identified for their safety.
A resident of a northern city on the Caspian Sea said the streets there also appeared calm.
The protests erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule in the Islamic Republic, culminating in mass violence late last week. According to opposition groups and an Iranian official, more than 2,000 people were killed in the worst domestic unrest since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“Metrics show a very slight rise in Internet connectivity in #Iran this morning” after 200 hours of shutdown, the Internet monitoring group NetBlocks posted on X. Connectivity remained around 2 percent of ordinary levels, it said.
A few Iranians overseas said on social media that they had been able to message users living inside Iran early on Saturday.
US President Donald Trump, who had threatened “very strong action” if Iran executed protesters, said Tehran’s leaders had called off mass hangings.
“I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been canceled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!” he posted on social media.
Iran had not announced plans for such executions or said it had canceled them.
Indian students and pilgrims returning from Iran said they were largely confined to their accommodations while in the country, unable to communicate with their families back home.
“We only heard stories of violent protests, and one man jumped in front of our car holding a burning baton, shouting something in the local language, with anger visible in his eyes,” said Z Syeda, a third-year medical student at a university in Tehran.
India’s External Affairs Ministry said on Friday that commercial flights were available and that New Delhi would take steps to secure the safety and welfare of Indian nationals.
