MESOP : THE CIZRE EVENTS & FOLLOW UP – Mayor of Turkey’s Kurdish Cizre suspended over ‘terror’ charges

12 Sep 2015 – CIZRE, Turkey’s Kurdish region,— Mayor of the Turkey’s Kurdish Cizre district, Leyla Imret, has been removed from her post by the Turkish Interior Ministry on alleged grounds of inciting people to armed uprising and “terror propaganda”, hours after an announcement that the curfew would be lifted.

Interior Minister issued the decision over an investigation launched by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Cizre into Imret, charging her with inciting people to armed uprising and “terror propaganda”. It has once again been the elected representatives of the Kurdish people that become target by the Turkish state, the terror of which has left some 21 people dead in Sırnak’s Cizre district since September 4.Following recent arrests of mayors of Kurdish municipalities on alleged “links to terror”, a way the Turkish state often resorts to in its total war against Kurds, Turkish Ministry of Interior has suspended five mayors in the past one week.

Co-mayors of Siirt’s Eruh district, Hüseyin Kılıç, co-mayor of Mardin’s Nusaybin district, Sara Kaya, and co-mayor of Amed’s Silvan district, Yüksel Bodakçı, have all been removed from post within the last one week. Silvan co-mayor Melikşah Teke and deputy co-mayor Ayser Yapıcı have also been removed from post four days ago. While the co-mayors are accused of “membership to an armed terrorist organisation”, their removal after their consecutive arrest last month is grounded on the declarations of self-rule by the local people in response to the never-ending repression and attacks by Turkish state forces. Turkey on Saturday lifted a nine-day curfew in the southeastern Kurdish city of Cizre in Turkish Kurdistan, revealing the devastating damage sustained during a massive military operation against suspected Kurdish rebels.Meanwhile, Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks has urged Turkish authorities to allow independent observers to enter Cizre, amid growing concerns of serious human rights violations. “Thus far, the information provided by the authorities does not allay all concerns. I urge the authorities to ensure immediate access to Cizre by independent observers, including by Turkey’s national human rights structures, in order to dispel the rumors of human rights violations perpetrated by security forces. I hope for a quick end to this emergency situation,”