Crackdown on Kurdish mayors raises pressure on Turkish opposition

Seven HDP mayors were jailed and replaced by state-appointed trustees during Turkey’s Syrian incursion, further stifling the nation’s Kurdish-majority party.
Demonstrators hold placards reading 'Replaced mayors to trash, give us back our elected mayors' during a protest against the replacement of Kurdish mayors with state officials in three cities, at Kadikoy district in Istanbul, on August 23, 2019. - The Turkish government removed three mayors from office on Monday over alleged links to Kurdish militants as Ankara deepened its crackdown on the opposition.The mayors of Diyarbakir, Mardin and Van provinces in eastern Turkey -- all members of the pro-Kurdish Peo
Demonstrators hold placards during a protest against the replacement of Kurdish mayors with state officials in three cities, in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul, Aug. 23, 2019. - OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images
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Diego Cupolo
@diegocupolo

As Turkish forces entered northeast Syria to expel US-backed Kurdish forces, seven mayors with the nation’s pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) were arrested and replaced by state-appointed trustees.

The developments bring the total number of HDP mayors detained and removed from office to 12 since the March 31 municipal elections, increasing pressure on the party and raising concerns democratic representation is being suppressed in the nation’s Kurdish-majority southeast.

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