Turkey Detains Pro-Kurdish Mayor and Council Members in Mersin
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Ankara, Jan 13 (NationPress) On Monday, Turkish officials arrested the pro-Kurdish DEM Party Mayor Hosyar Sariyildiz together with four municipal council members from the Akdeniz district in southern Mersin province, citing terrorism charges and appointing a trustee, according to the interior ministry of the country.
The ministry's announcement indicated that Zeyit Sener, the District Governor of Akdeniz, will serve as the acting Mayor.
Mayor Sariyildiz, Deputy Mayor Nuriye Arslan, and council members Ozgur Caglar, Neslihan Oruc, Yakup Danis, and Hikmet Bakirhan were taken into custody on Friday following an investigation led by the Mersin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.
Subsequent to interrogations, Sariyildiz, Arslan, Caglar, Oruc, and Bakirhan were detained, while Yakup Danis was released under judicial supervision.
The detained individuals face allegations of breaching laws related to terrorism financing and public assembly, as reported by Xinhua news agency.
In November, similar measures were taken with the appointment of trustees to replace DEM Party mayors in Mardin Metropolitan Municipality, Batman Municipality, and Halfeti District of Sanliurfa due to accusations of connections with the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
The DEM Party, which possesses 57 parliamentary seats, has repeatedly denied these allegations, claiming they are politically driven efforts to silence opposition.
The PKK, recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, has been waging an armed struggle against the Turkish government for the last four decades.
Over the past weekend, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the PKK to surrender its weapons, hinting at a possible resolution for one of the country’s most enduring conflicts.
During a speech in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir on Saturday, Erdogan described what he referred to as a “new and significant opportunity” to settle a dispute that has taken tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s. “We do not believe this opportunity should be squandered,” he remarked.
His administration has recently sought collaboration with the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party, whose members visited Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned PKK leader, to assess avenues for disarmament, according to local media reports.
Turkish media has suggested that Ocalan may soon call for PKK fighters to disarm, which could represent a significant turning point in the prolonged conflict.
This peace initiative arises as Turkey aims to bolster its internal unity amidst regional instability. Erdogan highlighted the necessity of ending what he described as “half-century-long separatist terrorism” and burying it “in history with all its aspects.”
Even as diplomatic efforts progress, Turkish security forces continue to exert pressure on the PKK. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that law enforcement operations across 41 provinces over the last ten days resulted in the arrest of 147 suspected PKK members.
