Turkey detains pro-Kurdish mayor in southern district, police and party say

10/1/2025 16:18

Turkish police in the southern province of Mersin said they had detained a pro-Kurdish mayor on Friday, along with five other managers of the municipality, as part of a terrorism-related investigation.



Hosyar Sariyildiz, a member of the opposition DEM Party and mayor of Mersin's Akdeniz district, his deputy Nuriye Arslan, and four other party members of the municipality's assembly were detained and taken in for questioning, police said in a statement.



It added they were detained for "carrying out propaganda for a terrorist organisation", "membership of an armed terrorist organisation", and "violation of the law to prevent financing of terrorism".



DEM, which has 57 seats in the 600-seat parliament, said the investigation was fabricated to justify the appointment of trustees in the local administration of Akdeniz.



"We know these methods very well from the coup practices that the government has been carrying out against the will of the people for years," DEM said in a post on X.