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.
DEM reaction
Eşref Tekin, co-chairperson of the DEM Party’s Siirt district branch, described Alağaş’s removal as “a coup against the will of the public” in a social media post Wednesday.
A press release from the party itself said: “Since the elections on March 31st, 2024, eight of our provinces have been usurped by the government: Hakkari, Mardin, Batman, Dersim, Halfetl, Akdeniz, Bahçesaray, and nor Siirt.”
Turkey’s ‘trustee’ system
Since 2019, dozens of democratically elected officials representing pro-Kurdish political parties have been deposed and replaced across Turkey, especially in southeastern provinces. Following Turkey’s most recent elections in March 2024, the DEM Party’s mayor in Hakkari was removed and detained in early June. In November, DEM mayors in Mardin, Batman, and Şanlıurfa’s Halfeti district were removed on alleged terrorism charges. Shortly thereafter, Tünceli’s mayor was also removed and replaced. In January, co-mayors from Mersin’s Akdeniz district were also deposed.
Recently, removals of opposition officials have not only affected DEM but also officials from Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party. In October, the CHP’s İstanbul-Esenyurt district mayor Ahmet Özer was removed and imprisoned due to alleged PKK connections. In early January, İstanbul-Beşiktaş district mayor Rıza Akpolat, also from the CHP, was deposed and arrested on alleged corruption charges.
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Lendrick
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