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Turkish opposition parties called for protests Thursday at what they said was the politically-motivated arrest of an opposition mayor for alleged links to the banned Kurdish PKK militant group.
Several hundred protestors rallied on Wednesday evening outside an Istanbul court where Ahmet Ozer, mayor of the Istanbul district of Esenyurt, was charged several hours after being arrested.
Ozer belongs to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which denounced the allegations as “baseless”.
Both the CHP and DEM, the main pro-Kurdish party — which also slammed his arrest as a “political coup” — called for a protest at 4 pm (1300 GMT) outside Esenyurt town hall, which is on the European side of Istanbul.
The interior ministry said Ozer was arrested for “membership of the PKK terror organisation”, saying it had appointed Istanbul’s deputy governor to replace him.
The PKK, which since 1984 has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that has killed thousands, is blacklisted as a terror organisation by Turkey and its Western allies.
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel denounced the arrest on Wednesday as “based on abstract allegations and statements in a book (Ozer) wrote years ago” and pledged to put up “the strongest possible response”.
The protests outside the court were joined by Istanbul’s powerful opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a major figure within the CHP.
DEM also slammed the move as “unlawful” and said its leadership would also be at Thursday’s protest.
A university professor, Ozer was elected in March when opposition candidates won in numerous towns and cities across Turkey, including Istanbul.
But the election authority’s removal of a DEM party candidate who had been elected mayor of the eastern city of Van triggered a string of violent opposition protests.
The candidate was later reinstated.
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