Turkish Police Use Water Cannon, Batons on Kurdish Protesters
DIYARBAKIR (Dispatches) – Riot police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse protesters demonstrating in southeast Turkey on Tuesday against the ousting of three Kurdish mayors five months after they were elected.
Ankara replaced the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) mayors with state officials on Monday and detained more than 400 people for suspected militant links in a step sharply criticized by opposition parties.
In Diyarbakir, the region’s biggest city, police repeatedly used water cannon on small groups of protesters, who huddled on the streets to protect themselves from the water cannon and made victory signs with their hands.
Riot police struck protesters with batons as they fled the area. The protesters gathered near city hall, which was sealed off by metal barriers after a state administrator took office there on Monday in place of the elected mayor.
"You can see here today a regime of pressure and persecution,” HDP leader Sezai Temelli told reporters in a statement on the street in Diyarbakir as the police acted against the protesters.
"We will continue to resist wherever we are because resistance is our legitimate right,” he said.
The Interior Ministry announced in a statement on Monday that Adnan Selcuk Mizrakli, Ahmet Turk and Bedia Ozgokce Ertan -- respectively the mayors of the southeastern provinces of Diyarbakir and Mardin as well as the eastern Van province -- had been suspended.
It added that the mayors – all members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) which Turkey's government has accused of having links to the PKK terror group – had active cases against them in which they were accused of crimes such as establishing or spreading propaganda for the militant group, or just being a member.
The charges included attending funerals and visiting graves of "terrorists", renaming streets and parks after imprisoned PKK members, and offering jobs to the Kurdish militants' relatives.
The interior ministry said the mayors' roles would be taken over by their provincial governors, who are appointed by the central government.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly claimed the HDP has ties to the PKK.
The HDP denies any affiliation to the Kurdish militant group, but has tried to broker peace talks between the militants and Ankara government.
"This is a new and clear political coup. It is a clear and hostile stance against the political will of the Kurdish people,” the HDP executive board said in a written statement.
Noting that the three mayors had been elected with between 53 percent and 63 percent of the vote in their cities in March, the statement called for support from other political parties.
Veli Agbaba, deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), wrote on Twitter that the dismissals were tantamount to fascism and a blow to democracy.
The new Istanbul mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, also slammed the move.
Ankara replaced the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) mayors with state officials on Monday and detained more than 400 people for suspected militant links in a step sharply criticized by opposition parties.
In Diyarbakir, the region’s biggest city, police repeatedly used water cannon on small groups of protesters, who huddled on the streets to protect themselves from the water cannon and made victory signs with their hands.
Riot police struck protesters with batons as they fled the area. The protesters gathered near city hall, which was sealed off by metal barriers after a state administrator took office there on Monday in place of the elected mayor.
"You can see here today a regime of pressure and persecution,” HDP leader Sezai Temelli told reporters in a statement on the street in Diyarbakir as the police acted against the protesters.
"We will continue to resist wherever we are because resistance is our legitimate right,” he said.
The Interior Ministry announced in a statement on Monday that Adnan Selcuk Mizrakli, Ahmet Turk and Bedia Ozgokce Ertan -- respectively the mayors of the southeastern provinces of Diyarbakir and Mardin as well as the eastern Van province -- had been suspended.
It added that the mayors – all members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) which Turkey's government has accused of having links to the PKK terror group – had active cases against them in which they were accused of crimes such as establishing or spreading propaganda for the militant group, or just being a member.
The charges included attending funerals and visiting graves of "terrorists", renaming streets and parks after imprisoned PKK members, and offering jobs to the Kurdish militants' relatives.
The interior ministry said the mayors' roles would be taken over by their provincial governors, who are appointed by the central government.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly claimed the HDP has ties to the PKK.
The HDP denies any affiliation to the Kurdish militant group, but has tried to broker peace talks between the militants and Ankara government.
"This is a new and clear political coup. It is a clear and hostile stance against the political will of the Kurdish people,” the HDP executive board said in a written statement.
Noting that the three mayors had been elected with between 53 percent and 63 percent of the vote in their cities in March, the statement called for support from other political parties.
Veli Agbaba, deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), wrote on Twitter that the dismissals were tantamount to fascism and a blow to democracy.
The new Istanbul mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, also slammed the move.