content tagged with Opposition mayors removed from office

Three mayors from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party were replaced with government-appointed trustees today.

Co-mayor Saniye Bayram emphasized Halfeti’s symbolic importance despite being the smallest district in Urfa.

DEM Party supporters protested the replacemrnt of the mayors in Batman, Mardin and Urfa.

The move follows the recent replacement of an İstanbul district mayor elected through CHP-DEM cooperation. The pro-Kurdish DEM has now lost three of the 11 cities it won in the March elections.

The İstanbul mayor describing the president as “wielding a stick" crossed the line of respectful political discourse, according to Erdoğan’s legal team.

Leaders of the CHP and the pro-Kurdish DEM held a rally in the Esenyurt district in response to Mayor Ahmet Özer's arrest o dubious "terrorism" charges and suspension from duty.

A distinguished academic in Turkey, Prof. Özer was elected the mayor of Esenyurt in the 2024 local elections.

For the first time, a member of the main opposition CHP has been removed from office over ‘terrorism’ charges against them. Mayor Ahmet Özer's testimony has been obtained by the state media despite a confidentiality order on the investigation.