ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish police in the southern province of Mersin said they had detained a pro-Kurdish mayor on Friday, along with five other managers of the municipality, as part of a terrorism-related investigation.
Hosyar Sariyildiz, a member of the opposition DEM Party and mayor of Mersin’s Akdeniz district, his deputy Nuriye Arslan, and four other party members of the municipality’s assembly were detained and taken in for questioning, police said in a statement.
It added they were detained for “carrying out propaganda for a terrorist organisation”, “membership of an armed terrorist organisation”, and “violation of the law to prevent financing of terrorism”.
DEM, which has 57 seats in the 600-seat parliament, said the investigation was fabricated to justify the appointment of trustees in the local administration of Akdeniz.
“We know these methods very well from the coup practices that the government has been carrying out against the will of the people for years,” DEM said in a post on X.
Many pro-Kurdish mayors and local administrators have been detained in similar operations in recent years. The government has typically appointed a trustee to the position during legal proceedings.
There was no announcement of a trustee appointment by the government yet.
The detentions come amid efforts in Turkey aimed at ending a 40-year conflict between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia and the state, which have fostered hopes for peace.
The PKK is deemed a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.
(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Sharon Singleton)
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