The Interior Ministry announced that it has replaced Tunceli Mayor Cevdet Konak and Ovacık District Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül with trustees over links to the PKK terrorist group.
In a statement, the ministry said the two mayors had been convicted of membership in the PKK terrorist group by a court in the province and received six years and three months of prison term.
There is also an ongoing investigation regarding Konak’s involvement in spreading PKK terrorist propaganda. The mayor was suspended in line with the 127th article of the Constitution and the 47th article of Municipal Law No. 5393.
Tunceli Governor Bülent Tekbıyıkoğlu was appointed as the acting mayor of Tunceli, the ministry said.
Regarding the case of Sarıgül, who should not be confused with former Şişli District Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül, who later formed the Party for Change in Türkiye (TDP), the ministry said the Ovacık district mayor was also suspended over the relevant articles of the Constitution and Municipal Law, as a provisional measure.
Ovacık District Governor Hüseyin Şamil Sözen was assigned to serve as the acting mayor of the district, the ministry said.
The CHP had come under fire during local elections for “covertly” cooperating with the pro-PKK Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). In the case of Esenyurt, both parties had agreed on Özer as a joint candidate, as the HDP refused to nominate a candidate for the district.
The PKK, which has waged its bloody terror campaign since 1984, exploited the Kurdish community to create a so-called Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Türkiye.
Turkish officials are opposed to the conflation of the Kurdish community and the PKK, arguing the definition implies Kurds are a problem for Türkiye and abets the PKK’s terrorist agenda.
Tens of thousands of people have already died in the conflict. The last attempt at peace failed in 2015 when the PKK resumed attacks during negotiations.
According to the International Crisis Group, the conflict has shifted from Türkiye to northern Iraq and northern Syria since 2019, after the Turkish military continued to push back PKK terrorists over and away from its borders, but the group still has operatives within the country.