Ahmet Türk

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has called for the swift initiation of direct talks between the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and the PKK's jailed leader for progress in the disarmament of the terrorist organization and in resolving the Kurdish issue.

The Interior Ministry on Nov. 7 launched an investigation into Tuncer Bakırhan, co-chair of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), and the party's Mardin provincial head.

The investigation was initiated over the statements made by Bakırhan and Mehmet Mihdi Tunç on Nov. 4, in the aftermath of the removal of three DEM Party's mayors in the country's southeastern region.

Three mayors from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM, formerly HDP), Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party, have been removed from office after being accused of…”terrorism,” the Turkish Interior Ministry said today.

The mayors of the southeastern provinces of Mardin and Batman and Şanlıurfa's Halfeti district have been removed from office, with trustees appointed in their place, the Interior Ministry announced on Nov. 4.

The burial of the mother jailed Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy co-chair Aysel Tuğluk was attacked by a group chanting racist slogans in the capital Ankara late on Sept. 13, temporarily preventing the burial from taking place.

An investigation has been opened by the Interior Ministry into the incident, which has drawn condemnation across the political spectrum.

The burial of the mother jailed Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Aysel Tuğluk was attacked by a group chanting racist slogans in the capital Ankara late on Sept. 13, temporarily preventing the burial from taking place. 

An investigation has been opened by the Interior Ministry into the incident, which has drawn condemnation across the political spectrum.

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has slammed dissident voices among the party's cadre, amid works on a road map for the upcoming presidential election, in a bid to "hold 49 percent of the 'no' votes together."

A total of 111 suspects in the main case into the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella group of Kurdish group that includes the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), were given a cumulative total of more than 1,100 years in jail by a Diyarbakır court on March 28. 

Hundreds of thousands of people have marked Nevruz in the Bağlar district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır along with other cities around Turkey and the region.

Long lines of cars were formed on the roads leading to the Nevruz area, prompting people to leave their cars and walk to the area. 

A man who attempted to enter a square where Newroz celebrations were occurring in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır was shot and killed by police for allegedly trying to enter with a knife, Doğan News Agency has reported.