DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — Candidates who subscribed to the Kurdistan Workers Party's (PKK) politics were elected as mayors for the first time in the 1999 local elections.

In that landmark election, the Peoples' Democracy Party (HADEP) won 37 municipalities including metropolitan Diyarbakir. Feridun Celik was the first pro-PKK mayor of the city. One day in February 2000, less than a year after the elections, Celik was stopped by police. He was detained together with the mayors of Siirt and Bingol on charges of assisting the PKK. The detention of HADEP mayors triggered instant tension in the region. Thousands of people assembled in front of the municipality and protested for days on end despite occasional police intervention. The mayors were released a few days later to be tried without detention.

16 years later on Oct. 25, Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality was the target of another operation. Co-mayors Gultan Kisanak and Firat Anli were detained on charges of "membership in a terror organization." Police and gendarmerie squads raided and searched the municipality offices. As the search went on, few municipality workers and residents waited outside. There were some occasional minor protests in front of the building, as the co-mayors were kept in detention for five days, just like 16 years ago — but it's different this time.

While the streets were angry when HADEP mayors were arrested 16 years ago, protests this time were low key and participation was insignificant. According to pro-government media, Kurds are not supporting their politicians anymore. Selahattin Demirtas, co-chair of the major Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), noted the situation in a meeting attended by Al-Monitor. He said, “There is nothing they can do except repression. They are standing up thanks to the state of emergency. Protests are banned; so are demonstrations and politics. With whatever power we have in 81 provinces, be it five or 10 people, we will come out to the streets peacefully.”