Turkey replaces 28 elected officials with appointees
ISTANBUL — Turkish police used water cannons and teargas to disperse protesters Sunday after Ankara announced it had replaced 28 elected municipal and district mayors in several predominantly Kurdish towns in Turkey’s east and southeast.
The removed officials are suspected of colluding with groups the government considers terrorist organizations, the Interior Ministry announced Sunday, adding that the decision was in line with a governmental decree enacted in the wake of a failed military coup.
Turkey declared a state of emergency following the July 15 coup attempt that allows the government to rule by decree. It has since suspended tens of thousands of people from government jobs over suspected links to terrorist organizations.
Of the officials replaced with by Ankara-appointed deputy and district governors Sunday, 24 are suspected of ties with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, and four are thought to be linked to the Gulen movement the governments alleges is responsible for the abortive coup that left over 270 people dead.