The new labels in Kurdish-majority Bitlis and Tatvan include a sign at the entrance of Bitlis, stating "welcome’’ in the Kurdish dialect of Kurmanji, among other languages, independent news site Diken reported.
The municipality of Tatvan had previously removed the "Qebristana Karşıyaka" sign, marking a cemetery and the “Şaredariya Tetwan” sign, indicating a police station.
The ruling AKP clinched the centre of Bitlis province from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) with 43.87 percent of the votes in the March 31 local elections.
The municipality of Bitlis and Tatvan began to remove Kurdish labels shortly thereafter.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AKP exerted efforts to attract Kurdish voters, believed to hold a key role in the election, ahead of the June 23 Istanbul mayoral revote. Ankara last month lifted visiting restrictions on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Ankara at the same time continues to crack down on the pro-Kurdish HDP, which it accuses of harbouring sympathies for and acting in the interest of the PKK.
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