Turkey: Opposition parties call for new protests after mayor arrested for “terrorism”

Two Turkish opposition parties called for protests in Constantinople today after the arrest and replacement of a mayor accused of being a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The center-left Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), the second and third strongest parliamentary parties respectively, called on their supporters to gather in front of the city hall of Esenyurt, whose mayor (who belongs to the social-democratic CHP) was arrested yesterday, Wednesday.

A significant police force has been deployed around the town hall since the morning, according to television images.

The DEM also called on its supporters to demonstrate across Turkey against the “usurpation of the people’s will.”

The municipality of Esenyurt is the largest municipality in the Istanbul metropolitan region with about 978,000 inhabitants.

The mayor, Ahmet Özer, is accused of being “a member of the armed terrorist organization PKK,” a statement from the Turkish Interior Ministry clarified.

The ministry also confirmed that Özer was “temporarily deposed” and replaced by a deputy governor of Istanbul.

Ahmet Özer is a well-known university academic who was elected in the March 31 elections this year marked by a major opposition victory in several major cities, including Istanbul.

His arrest came as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed yesterday his willingness to “reach out to the Kurdish brothers”, suggesting there is a possibility of an early release of the historic PKK leader.

Abdullah Ocalan, who has been sentenced to life in prison, has been held in solitary confinement on an island off Istanbul since 1999.

The PKK claimed responsibility for the attack that killed five people and injured 22 others on October 23 at the headquarters of the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) in Ankara.

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