Protest in Istanbul against mayor’s arrest over alleged terror links

Hundreds of people have gathered in Istanbul to protest against the arrest and removal from office of a mayor from Türkiye’s main opposition party for alleged links to a banned Kurdish militant group.

Ahmet Özer, the mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district and a member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), was detained on Wednesday by anti-terrorist police over his alleged connection to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK.

On Thursday, the government replaced Özer with Istanbul’s deputy governor, a move the CHP’s leader, Özgür Özel and other politicians described as a “coup.”

Demonstrators filled a square in Esenyurt, a western suburb on Istanbul’s European side, after the government banned a rally outside the municipality building.

Some carried banners that read ‘We want an elected mayor not an appointed mayor’ and called for the resignation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government.

64-year-old Özer is a former academic originally from Van in eastern Türkiye.

He was elected mayor of Esenyurt in local elections in March.

The state-run Anadolu news agency reported that the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said an investigation showed Özer had maintained contacts with PKK figures for more than 10 years.

His home, vehicle and office in the municipality were searched on Wednesday as part of the investigation.

Özer’s arrest comes after an attack on the Turkish defence company TUSAS headquarters in Ankara on October 24 that saw five people killed. The PKK claimed responsibility for that attack.

Meanwhile, Türkiye is debating a tentative peace process to end a 40-year conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state that has led to tens of thousands of deaths.

The PKK initially sought to establish an independent Kurdish state but changed its aims in the 1990s to demanding increased political and cultural rights for Kurds within Türkiye.

Türkiye’s Western allies, including the US and EU, list the PKK as a terrorist organisation.