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Mayor deposed, replaced in southeastern province of Siirt

16 1
30.01.2025

Sofya Alağaş, mayor of Turkey’s southeastern province of Siirt, has been deposed and replaced on alleged terrorism charges. On Tuesday (January 28), a Turkish court sentenced the mayor to six years and three months in prison due to alleged ‘membership in a terrorist organization’. Yesterday, the Turkish Interior Ministry announced a central government trustee had been appointed to serve in her place.

Alağaş represents the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, which enjoys disproportionate support in Turkey’s heavily Kurdish southeastern provinces. In recent months and years, numerous pro-Kurdish politicians in these provinces have been deposed and replaced by central government appointees in what has become known as the ‘trustee’ system.

A press release from the Interior Ministry described Alağaş’s removal as a ‘temporary measure’ and announced that the mayor had been sentenced to prison time for ‘Membership in the armed PKK/KCK terrorist organization’. The Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) is a separatist militia group that has been involved in armed conflict with Turkish forces since the 1980s and is classified by Ankara as a terrorist organization.

Eşref........

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