Turkey’s nationalist leader calls for reinstatement of Kurdish mayors

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The leader of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on Friday called for the reinstatement of Ahmet Turk, former mayor of Mardin, and Ahmet Ozer, former mayor of an Istanbul district, nearly a year after they were sacked on "terrorism" charges.

 

"Ahmet Turk was the mayor of Mardin, but he was removed from office. He is someone who contributed to establishing dialogue with the PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] for the sake of achieving peace and stability in Turkey," Devlet Bahceli told Sabah newspaper.

 

Bahceli is a close ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

 

Turk, 83, is a veteran Kurdish politician. He has played a crucial role in Turkey's peace process, joining delegations meeting with political parties and figures, and visiting Imrali to talk with jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan.

 

"In such a situation, Ahmet Turk should be reinstated to his position. He should be reunited with his municipality. This will contribute to the development of the spirit of brotherhood and peace,” Bahceli said.

 

In the March 2024 local elections, Turk won in a landslide, becoming mayor of Mardin in Turkey’s Kurdish majority southeast. Two months later, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for alleged involvement in deadly protests in October 2014. The case is better known as the Kobane trials. In November 2024, he was sacked from the post as mayor and replaced with a government-appointed trustee. 

 

At the time, the Turkish government had turned up the heat on the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, of which Turk is a member. Many party members were accused of affiliation with the PKK.

 

In October, Bahceli initiated the ongoing peace process with the PKK when he called for Ocalan to be allowed to address the parliament and declare the end of the PKK. 

 

The PKK announced its dissolution and an end to its four-decade armed struggle on May 12 and said it would pursue a political path to securing Kurdish rights. The four-decade long conflict has claimed around 40,000 lives.

 

"Peace is not a bird with only one wing," Bahceli said. "To make peace fly, it also needs a second wing. One wing of peace has been realized by Ocalan: the PKK has been dissolved and weapons have been laid down. Now, we have reached the stage of determining what the conditions for living together should be." 

 

Bahceli also called for Ahmet Ozer's freedom. Ozer, a Kurd, was a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district. He was also arrested due to alleged PKK links and quickly replaced with a trustee.  

 

"The same goes for Ahmet Ozer," Bahceli said. "If there is corruption or unlawful behavior in the municipality, that is a separate matter. But the fact that he has shared certain thoughts related to the PKK with the public in the past is another matter.

 

"If Turkey has entered a peace process, then Ahmet Ozer must be released. If there is a case of corruption, he should also receive the necessary punishment. We must separate these two issues from each other."

 

Thousands of Kurdish politicians and supporters of pro-Kurdish parties, mainly DEM Party’s predecessor the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), have been jailed in the past decade for PKK-related charges. A large number of them remain behind bars.