Kurdish-held municipalities under fire in Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey (K24) – On Tuesday, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, called for a confiscation of municipality vehicles in towns and cities whose mayors belong to the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions' Party (DBP).

"TERROR-CONTROLLED MUNICIPALITIES"

In a meeting with kaymakams (sub-governors) from across Turkey, Erdogan proclaimed DBP-held municipalities to be controlled by the "divisive terror organization," in reference to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The mayors of over one hundred towns and cities across Kurdistan of Turkey belong to the DBP, a sister party of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) which is the third largest bloc in the Turkish Parliament.

"It is a must to let life return to its normal course in the region, through seizing vehicles and equipment of [those] municipalities and using other [state] institutions' [for services]," said Erdogan to the central government-appointed kaymakams who hold the highest administrative position in provincial districts and towns in Turkey.

According to Feride Lacin, a member of DBP central party council, provincial governorates have already confiscated the vehicles and equipment of at least seven municipalities.

Erdogan also told kaymakams to identify state employees who, he claimed, supported the PKK.

"Do not wait a second. Find those who engage in treason and improbity and hand them over to justice. We will deal with them," Erdogan added.

Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had earlier called for the trial of Kurdish mayors, accusing them of treason and of collaboration with the PKK.

MAYORS DETAINED

Turkish authorities have detained 21 mayors and suspended 29 others, according to DBP officials.

Interior Ministry in Turkey has the legal power to suspend an elected mayor from duty.

Among the suspended are the co-mayor of the city of Batman, Sabri Ozdemir and co-mayor of the curfew-hit town of Cizre, Leyla Imret.

Feride Lacin of DBP said on Monday in a press meeting in Diyarbakir that 23 members of various municipal assemblies have received suspension punishments.

Gultan Kisanak, the co-mayor of the de facto Kurdish capital, Diyarbakir, is currently facing an investigation into her remarks on autonomy.

Kisanak's counterpart at the city of Van, Bekir Kaya was sentenced to 15 years in prison earlier this month, charged with membership to a terror group.

Again in Diyarbakir, a Turkish prosecutor is demanding life sentence for the co-mayor of the town of Silvan, Yuksel Bodakci, who last week appeared before a court in the first part of series of trials.

Editing by Ava Homa

(Nevin Diri and Zelal Onen contributed to this story from Ankara and Diyarbakir)