Three mayors, representing the cities of Mardin and Batman as well as Halfeti, a district in Şanlıurfa province, were removed by Turkey’s Interior Ministry earlier this week and replaced with government officials in a move that sparked widespread condemnation and protests.
All three mayors are members of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party).
The interior ministry announced on X on Thursday the launch of an investigation into DEM Party co-chairperson and lawmaker Tuncer Bakırhan and Mardin provincial chairman Mehmet Mihdi Tunç due to comments they made in speeches on Monday about the removal of the DEM Party mayors.
Bakırhan said during a protest in Mardin that Kurdish people will not remain silent in the wake of efforts aimed at usurping their will, citing the past examples of Kurdish leaders such as Seyid Riza and Sheikh Said, both Kurdish religious and political leaders, who were accused of revolting against the Turkish government in eastern Turkey in the early years of the Turkish Republic.
Some pro-government figures targeted Bakırhan for his reference to Seyid Riza and Sheikh Said and called on prosecutors to launch an investigation on the grounds that he was calling for a revolt against the government.
The DEM Party denied the claims in a statement, describing them as an effort to manipulate events.
The three mayors were removed from office for convictions and charges on terrorism-related offenses, including membership in an armed group and disseminating propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Since 1984, the PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that has killed thousands and is formally recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.
Dozens of pro-Kurdish mayors from predecessor parties were also removed from their posts on similar charges in the past; however, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently expressed full support for efforts to reach out to Turkey’s Kurdish population, describing it as a “window of opportunity.”