Turkey’s Interior Ministry has removed the mayors of three cities in southeastern Turkey, citing ongoing trials against them, in which they are accused of links to the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) organisation and involvement in terrorism-related cases.
The mayors in question are Kurdish-origin officials: Ahmet Turk, Mayor of Mardin; Gulistan Soluk, Mayor of Batman; and Mehmet Karayilan, Mayor of Halfeti. All were elected in the recent local elections on 31 March 2024.
Caretakers have been appointed in their places. The governors of Mardin and Batman have taken over the administration of those cities, while the district governor of Halfeti has assumed responsibility there.
Ahmet Turk, aged 82, is a veteran politician associated with Turkey’s pro-Kurdish parties and a former MP. He has been elected and subsequently removed from his position as mayor of Mardin by the Interior Ministry twice before, in 2016 and 2019. In the latest elections, he was elected mayor with 57.40% of the vote. Gulistan Soluk, aged 31, won the Batman mayoral race on 31 March with 64.52% of the vote, while 57-year-old Mehmet Karayilan was elected mayor of Halfeti with 39.45%.
On 30 October, Turkish authorities arrested Ahmet Ozer, Mayor of Esenyurt, Istanbul’s largest metropolitan district with a population of one million, on charges of “strong suspicion of criminal activity” as a member of the Kurdish organisation Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Following his arrest, the Interior Ministry also removed him from office and appointed a caretaker in his place.
Ahmet Ozer was elected Mayor of Esenyurt in the 31 March elections this year from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). Between 2022-23, he served as an advisor to Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
