News / Turkey

Turkey court orders release of pro-Kurdish mayor

Friday, 03 February 2017 7:10 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 04 February 2017 11:54 AM ]

The file photo shows Ahmet Turk, the pro-Kurdish mayor of Mardin in Turkey. (Photo by AFP)

A court in Turkey has ordered the release of the pro-Kurdish mayor of the southeastern province of Mardin.

Ahmet Turk was released on Friday, after over two months, from a jail in the eastern province of Elazig.

The order came after Mardin Criminal Court of Peace evaluated his release demand.

Officials from the Peoples’ Democratic Party, also known as the HDP, as well as politicians and supporters had repeatedly asked for his release, stating that the 79-year-old was suffering from ill health.

According to his lawyer, Zeynep Ceren Boztoprak, Turk's trial will resume without arrest.

Sezgin Tanrikulu, a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), praised the court ruling.

"Finally, a wrong verdict that contradicts justice and conscience has been rectified. Ahmet Turk was released, hope the rest will come,” he said in a message posted on Twitter.

Turk, who is known as a moderate figure in the pro-Kurdish political line, was removed from office on November 17, 2016, and arrested as part of a terrorism investigation a few days later.

The arrest of Turk did not come as a surprise to the Kurdish community in Turkey. Other senior pro-Kurdish officials have also been jailed over the past months, especially in the wake of the failed coup of July 15, 2016.

On January 29, police arrested the spokesman of the HDP, Ayhan Bilgen, as part of the government’s crackdown on the pro-Kurdish opposition party.

In December also, Turkish security forces arrested Aysel Tugluk, another high-ranking HDP official, over an investigation related to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

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