The new Turkey |
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12-Apr-2020 |
| 9 April 2020: Turkish prosecutors level new terrorism-related charges against jailed Diyarbakır mayor
Mızraklı had already been sentenced to nine years, four months in prison in March for alleged membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), based on an informant’s testimony as well as his attendance at events and demonstrations. Similarly, the new indictment referred to six events he attended as evidence for charging him with disseminating terrorist propaganda. His participation in meetings held by his party, the Kurdish-oriented Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), an HDP-organized conference on the crises in the Middle East and his support for a hunger strike by HDP deputy Leyla Güven as well as his tweets about Ramin Hossein Penahi, a Kurdish activist executed in Iran, were cited in the indictment. Read the full article 9 March 2020:
Turkish court sentences pro-Kurdish ex-mayor to nine years in jail
The PKK is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The HDP mayor was arrested on Oct. 22 with prosecutors demanding a prison sentence of up to 15 years. Turkish authorities have replaced dozens of HDP mayors over links to the PKK since the March 31 local elections last year.
Lastly, on November 13, trustees were appointed to the District Municipalities of Yenişehir and Hazro in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır and the Municipality of Akpazar town in Mazgirt, Dersim. CLICK - Four HDP Mayors Replaced with Trustees CLICK - Trustees Appointed to 15 HDP Municipalities Since Local Elections on March 31 While mayors have been removed from office, district governors or governors have been appointed as acting mayors in their place. In dismissing Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) mayors, the Ministry of Interior or governorships have been referring to "the ongoing investigations against them on terror-related charges." Trustees have been appointed to the following municipalities so far:
Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) declared victory in local polls on Sunday in Diyarbakır and received 62.93 percent of the votes in its stronghold. Diyarbakır was one of the provinces the Turkish government replaced previously elected HDP mayors with appointed administrators over terror links to outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Both the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu repeatedly said during the election campaign that the government might again replace mayors to be elected on March 31, if they were linked to the PKK. Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s office launched a terror investigation into co-mayors Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı and Hülya Alökmen Uyanık over joining an anthem and one minute's silence at a meeting in Diyarbakır organised in memory of those who lost their lives in democracy struggle, Gazete Karınca said.* |
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Ankara prosecutors have drafted an indictment for Selçuk Mızraklı, the former mayor of the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakır, for allegedly disseminating terrorist propaganda, the Bianet news website reported on Thursday.
Since the Metropolitan Mayors of Van, Diyarbakır and Mardin were removed from office on August 19, 2019 on the ground that there were ongoing investigations against them, trustees have been appointed to 20 metropolitan, provincial and district municipalities in eastern Turkey.
