Ayhan Eren, the mayor of Kozluk in the Kurdish province of Batman and Firat Kara Bolut, the mayor of Bakrkhan in the province, who won the March 31, 2019 elections from the Turkish HDP, resigned from the party and joined the AKP.

According to the Turkish Haber Global, Eren and Kara Bolut became members of the ruling party during a ceremony at the AKP office in Batman province in the presence of Akif Gur, the head of the party in the province.

"HDP mayors in the region said the HDP policies in the region are against our people. The HDP municipality is not a service municipality. To provide better service to the people and their region, the mayors have preferred the AKP. Our party, which is getting bigger every day, has become stronger than before with the joining of these mayors," Gur said in the ceremony.

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