Turkey dismisses eight more pro-Kurdish mayors

Turkish police use a water cannon to disperse demonstrators during a protest against the replacement of Kurdish mayors with state officials in three cities, in Diyarbakir, Turkey. (Reuters)

• The mayor of Batman city and fellow mayors from Ergani, Egil, Lice and Silvan in Diyarbakir province in southeastern Turkey were removed from their posts
• The government has cracked down on the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), with a total of 40 mayors replaced since March 2019 local elections

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey: Eight more mayors from Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party were dismissed on Monday on suspicion of links with Kurdish militants and were replaced by government-appointed trustees, the interior ministry said.
The mayor of Batman city and fellow mayors from Ergani, Egil, Lice and Silvan in Diyarbakir province in southeastern Turkey were removed from their posts, the ministry said in a statement.
Another three mayors were suspended from districts in the eastern and southeastern provinces of Bitlis, Igdir and Siirt, it added.
The mayors are all suspected of being members of an armed terror group, according to the ministry.
Earlier on Monday, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said five mayors replaced had been detained, as well as a sixth who had previously been removed.
Turkey accuses the HDP — the country’s third-largest party — of links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a bloody insurgency against the state since 1984.
The PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.
The government has cracked down on the HDP, with a total of 40 mayors replaced since March 2019 local elections.