Turkey seizes three Kurdish municipalities, shuts down kindergarten

In Diyarbakir, a Turkish court decided to detain the Co-mayor of the town of Hani Abdurrahman Zorlu, accusing him of "membership to a terrorist organization."

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - On Friday, Turkish authorities seized the municipalities of three towns in the Kurdish-majority Sanliurfa Province bordering Syria.

Government-appointed subgovernors who act as "trustees" will now run the three Democratic Regions Party (DBP)-held Viransehir, Bozova and Halfeti municipalities, said Kurdistan 24 Diyarbakir bureau.

Viransehir is Wêranşar, Bozova is Hewag, and Halfeti is Xelfetî in the Kurdish language that is officially not recognized in Turkey.

Halfeti is the birthplace of the imprisoned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The Governor of Sanliurfa sent a notification of seizure to the municipalities, acting on government authority granted during the state of emergency implemented after the failed July 15 coup attempt.

The administrations of municipalities are accused of aiding the PKK.

The Government had earlier seized the municipality of the town of Suruc (Pirsus) with a decree, alongside 27 others on September 11, mostly in the Kurdish region.

The elected co-mayor of Suruc, Orhan Sansal was dismissed from his post in February 2016 and is being prosecuted with 44 years in prison for allegations of abetting the PKK during the battle of Kobani in Syria.

Suruc is a border sister city with the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani which was the stage of major Islamic State assault in September 2014-January 2015 which was repelled by the People's Protection Units (YPG) and Peshmerga reinforcements supported by airstrikes from a US-led coalition warplanes.

Meanwhile, in Diyarbakir, a Turkish court decided to detain the Co-mayor of the town of Hani Abdurrahman Zorlu, accusing him of "membership to a terrorist organization," said Kurdistan 24 bureau.

KINDERGARTEN SHUT DOWN

Elsewhere in the Province of Wan bordering Iran, the government-appointed trustee to the Municipality of the town of Ozalp shut down a kindergarten that provided kids with education in Kurdish.

In a phone call with Kurdistan 24 English website, Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Adem Geveri who represents Wan Province at the Turkish Parliament said the kindergarten used to be funded by the Ozalp municipality.

The kindergarten was named after Alan Kurdi, a refugee toddler from Kobani whose lifeless body's image on a Mediterranean Sea beach in western Turkey hit global headlines last year.

 

Editing by Ava Homa