Ahmet Türk

When Deniz Baykal, the former chairman of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), heard that Ahmet Türk, the co-mayor of the Syria border city of Mardin, had been taken into police custody on Nov. 21, he immediately decided to go to Mardin to talk to Türk in solidarity. 

The ousted mayor of the southeastern province of Mardin, Ahmet Türk, was arrested on "terror" charges on Nov. 24, becoming the latest Kurdish politician to be arrested.

Mardin Co-Mayor Ahmet Türk was referred to a court with a demand for his arrest on Nov. 24 after he was ousted from his elected position by Turkey's authorities.

Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani visited Turkey on Nov. 23 and held talks with turkey's president, prime minister and foreign minister, during which he focused on the ongoing Mosul offensive and the detention of Ahmet Türk, the ousted mayor of Mardin. 

Police on Nov. 21 detained former Mardin co-mayor Ahmet Türk from the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), four days after he was dismissed from his post as a part of a terror investigation, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Police conducted searches at Türk's residence in Mardin at around 10:15 a.m. before he was subsequently taken to the police headquarters to testify.

Turkey has appointed mayors to four municipalities in the southeastern and eastern region of the country following operations to detain and arrest the provinces' democratically elected leaders.

Trustees were appointed to the municipalities of the eastern provinces of Van, Siirt and Tunceli and the southeastern province of Mardin early on Nov. 17. 

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has condemned Turkey for dissolving a political party in 2009 for alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), saying the party did not promote violence nor warrant such a severe sanction.