But members of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, or HDP, met with him, Kurdistan 24 reported. It decried the move as an “administrative coup”.
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Tens of thousands of people have died in a decades-long insurgency by the PKK, who want more self-rule for Kurdish people.
The government argues however that the emergency measures are essential with the country shaken by the coup and battling the PKK insurgency in the southeast. Gulen denies any involvement.
The mayors have been replaced by Ankara-appointed deputy and district governors, who took up their new posts Sunday morning.
“Mayors and town councillors, who come to power through elections, must perform their duties according to the law”, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said.
Twenty-four of the outgoing mayors are accused of links to the PKK and four of links to Gulen, the ministry said. Two of them were more senior provincial mayors, it said.
“The Kurdish problem will become even harder to solve. the people will not yield to this mentality”, it said, calling on the government to stop “taking advantage” of the failed coup. At least 40,000 people have been detained on suspicion of links to Gulen’s network and half of those arrested.
Police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse demonstrators outside local government buildings in Suruc on the Syrian border as new administrators took over, security sources said.
He said the Feto group was behind the July 15 attempted coup and the PKK/Democratic Union Party in Syria would be stopped like the PKK in Turkey. He enjoyed limited visitation rights while the PKK and the government engaged in peace talks, but those minimal visits ended in April 2015 as the peace process faltered.
In a statement, the HDP said the move was reminiscent of the military takeover in 1980 and “ignored the will of the voters”.
“This unlawful and arbitrary attitude will do nothing but intensify existing issues, causing the Kurdish issue to become unresolvable to further degrees”, it stressed.
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Last month, Turkey sent tanks across the Syrian border to help rebels retake Jarablus, a key IS-held border town, and to contain the expansion of a Syrian Kurdish militia. “These attacks, which have the clear objective of disrupting Turkey’s Syria operation, are still ongoing”, Erdogan said. His chief of military staff said the operation would “continue decisively”.
