ISTANBUL—Clashes erupted between police and protesters Sunday after Ankara announced it had replaced 28 elected municipal and district mayors in several predominantly Kurdish towns in Turkey’s east and southeast.
The officials being replaced are suspected of colluding with groups the government considers terrorist organizations, the Interior Ministry announced Sunday, adding that the decision was in line with the governmental decree enacted on Sept. 1.
Turkey declared a state of emergency following a failed military coup on July 15 that allows the government to rule by decree. It has since suspended tens of thousands of people from government jobs over suspected links to terrorist organizations.
Of those replaced, 24 are suspected of ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, and four are thought to be linked to the Gulen movement allegedly responsible for the abortive coup which killed over 270 people.
The ministry said in its statement that when local governments “come under the influence of terrorist organizations, it is the state’s primary duty to take precautions against those who have usurped the people’s will.”
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag wrote on Twitter, “Mayors and town councilors, who come to power through elections, must perform their duties according to the law. Being an elected official isn’t a license to commit crimes. If mayors and town councilors finance terrorism by transferring public funds allocated to them to serve the people and allow the use of municipal vehicles, equipment and capabilities in terrorist activities, they lose their democratic legitimacy.”
Three of the 28 officials belong to the ruling Justice and Development Party, one to the Nationalist Movement Party and the rest to the pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party, or HDP.
The HDP condemned the appointments as a “coup by trustees” in a press statement released Sunday. It said wouldn’t recognize the appointments which were violating the Turkish constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights.
“This unlawful and arbitrary action will only deepen existing problems in Kurdish towns and cause the Kurdish issue to be even more unsolvable,” it added.
