“Our government took this decision based on all of this evidence”. Of the officials replaced with Ankara-appointed deputy and district governors Sunday, 24 are suspected of ties with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, and four are said to be linked to the Gulen movement the government alleges is responsible for the failed coup. “If mayors and town councilors finance terrorism by transferring public funds allocated to them to serve the people., they lose their democratic legitimacy”. In Diyarbarkir and in Hakkari province near the Iraqi border, police reportedly entered municipality buildings and unfurled large red Turkish flags, replacing the white local government flags. “Being an elected official isn’t a licence to commit crimes”, he added.
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after prayers at the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday Monday that it should have been done earlier in line with his own wishes.
Meanwhile, the interior ministry said in a statement that the 28 sacked mayors – 12 of whom have been arrested – were facing a probe over suspected “assistance and support” to the Kurdish militants and to Gulen’s organisation.
“We are concerned by reports of clashes in Turkey’s Southeast…”
Turkey was stronger, more resolute and more dynamic than before coup attempt, Erdogan said.
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Tensions in the southeast had already been heightened since Turkey launched a military incursion into Syria two and half weeks ago dubbed “Operation Euphrates Shield”. Turkey views the Kurdish militia as an extension of the PKK and fears that Kurdish gains there will fuel separatist sentiment on its own soil.
