ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Turkey’s interior ministry on Saturday dismissed Kurdish politician Abdullah Zeydan from his post as co-mayor of the eastern city of Van, after he was sentenced to prison over alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) days earlier.

A Turkish court on Tuesday sentenced Zeydan in absentia to three years and nine months in prison for “aiding a terrorist organization” and “making propaganda” for the group, citing his alleged participation in a 2015 protest in Hakkari's Yuksekova district.

The interior ministry said on Friday that Zeydan was suspended from duty “as a temporary measure” following the ruling against him, adding that Van Governor Ozan Balci has been appointed in his place.

His Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) quickly condemned the decision, describing it as a “coup” and “a blow to the will of the people.”

“We will not bow down to this lawlessness. We will stand against the trustee mentality that is trying to usurp the will of the people of Van,” wrote the party in a statement.

Zeydan was convicted of similar charges in 2018 but the ruling was overturned in a 2022 retrial. Following his victory in the 2024 local elections, the Van election board annulled his win, declaring him ineligible to run in the mayoral elections due to his past record.

The decision sparked major protests in Van, and he was reinstated days later after the DEM Party contested the ruling and appealed to the Supreme Election Council.

He is the fourth Kurdish mayor to be removed from his post and replaced with a state-appointed trustee since Turkey’s local elections in March 2024. All four dismissed mayors have been from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party.

The election of Kurdish mayors in Turkey’s southeast Kurdish-majority regions is a common occurrence, but they are often removed from the post over accusations of having ties to the PKK and then replaced with a state-appointed trustee. Dozens of Kurdish mayors have been dismissed since 2016.