The Turkish Ministry of Interior said on Wednesday that it had detained around 90 people across the country on grounds of being affiliated to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), following the crackdown on protests in support of the elected Van mayor whose candidacy was invalidated by a court ruling the previous day, Rudaw Media Network reported.
Around 89 people were detained for “demonstrating without permission, shouting praises and supportive slogans for the separatist terrorist organization [PKK] which attacked our security forces with stones, and showed resistance despite the warnings by not dispersing”, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced.
People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) announced on Tuesday that five minutes before the end of working hours on Friday, the Turkish justice ministry objected to Van’s court’s decision to reinstate party’s Van candidate mayor Abdullah Zeydan’s suspended rights, with the chief prosecutor’s office appealing to the court to revoke the decision on the same day, rendering his candidacy invalid.
Protests erupted hours after the Van branch of the country’s electoral body (YSK) on Tuesday ruled that candidate Abdullah Zeydan was not eligible to take part in the elections, handing the mayoralty of the Kurdish city to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidate Abdulahat Arvas, who garnered the second-highest number of votes.
