Turkey removes two more pro-Kurdish mayors from office for links to banned group

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Friday ousted two more elected pro-Kurdish mayors from office and replaced them with state-appointed administrators, citing terrorism-related charges against them.

With their ouster, the number of elected mayors that have been sacked since October rose to six.

An Interior Ministry statement said the mayor of the mainly Kurdish-populated provincial capital of Tunceli was removed from office due to his past conviction and an ongoing investigation for links to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The district mayor for Ovacik, in Tunceli province, was sacked due to his past conviction of membership in the PKK, the statement said.

The two mayors belong to the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM, which is the third-largest party represented in Parliament. They were elected to office in local elections in March.

Among those previously ousted was the mayor of Esenyurt, a district in Istanbul, who is a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP. The mayor, Ahmet Ozer, was arrested last month, for alleged connections to the PKK.

Several other pro-Kurdish mayors have similarly been ousted from office following past elections.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has defended the mayors’ removals saying they are part of efforts to maintain security.

Opposition parties and human rights groups, however, accuse the government of undermining democracy and say the charges brought against the mayors are often politically motivated.

The PKK, which has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since the 1980s, is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people.