Kağızman district mayor Mehmet Alkan, who represents the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, has been removed and replaced in Turkey’s eastern province of Kars. Alkan was removed on charges of ‘membership in an armed terrorist organization’.
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| Mayor removed, replaced in Kars’ Kağızman district, Turkey |
Alkan’s removal follows a wave of removals of democratically elected officials across Turkey in recent weeks. His removal also coincides with an ongoing Kurdish solution process which is expected to conclude in the near future.
Kağızman district governor Okan Daştan was appointed district mayor in Alkan’s place. According to an announcement by the Interior Ministry, Alkan’s removal is a ‘temporary measure’.
A statement released by the DEM Party described Alkan’s removal as a ‘usurpation of the Kağızman public’s will’.
Alkan has been sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison in the case. The mayor had previously been detained in 2019 on suspected links to the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) before being released.
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| Mayor removed, replaced in Kars’ Kağızman district, Turkey |
Turkey’s ‘trustee’ system
Alkan’s removal marks the tenth DEM Party-controlled municipality that has been purged since Turkey’s most recent local elections in March 2024. The practice of removing democratically elected mayors and replacing them with government appointees, particularly in Turkey’s heavily Kurdish southeast, has become known as the ‘trustee’ system.
Between Turkey’s 2019 local elections and 2024, more than 65 officials belonging to the DEM predecessor People’s Democratic Party (HDP) were removed from office on alleged terror connections and replaced by central government appointees.
Since 2024, the practice has continued, with recent removals in Hakkari, Mardin, Batman, Şanlıurfa, Tunceli, Mersin, Siirt, Van, and even in Istanbul.
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| Kurdish peace process continues apace | Mayor removed, replaced in Kars’ Kağızman district, Turkey |
Kurdish peace process continues apace
Despite the recent crackdown in DEM Party-controlled provinces, an ongoing peace initiative involving incarcerated PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan appears to be nearing a conclusion. The ongoing talks aim to solve Turkey’s long-running Kurdish issue. Since the 1980s, the PKK has engaged in sporadic fighting with Turkish forces, particularly in southeastern Anatolia. The group is classified by Ankara as a terrorist organization.
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A DEM Party delegation has paid Öcalan two visits since the start of the process, both in the month of January. A third visit is planned for the coming weeks, after which Öcalan is expected to issue a call for PKK disarmament, possibly in exchange for his transfer to house arrest.
Öcalan has been incarcerated on İmralı island in the Sea of Marmara since he was detained in Kenya in 1999.
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
Mayor removed, replaced in Kars’ Kağızman district, Turkey
