ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – An ousted mayor of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) on Wednesday called on the Council of Europe to pressure Turkey to immediately end its practice of appointing government trustees to replace elected officials, a policy infamously used by Ankara to crack down on dissent. 

Abdullah Zeydan, the former Kurdish mayor of Turkey’s southeastern Van province, was sacked in February and replaced with a state-appointed trustee for alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Speaking at the Council of Europe on Wednesday, Zeydan lamented that the European Court for Human Rights’ (ECHR) decisions, “which are binding for all member states, are persistently not implemented” in Turkey, adding that “responsible supranational institutions are also normalizing and turning a blind eye to this situation.” 

He stressed the need for the ECHR to support efforts “for the removal of restrictions that Turkey has placed on local governments,” asserting that the “immediate end to trustee policies” should come foremost. 

The Turkish government has a long history of ousting elected mayors from opposition parties and replacing them with state-appointed trustees. 

Many prominent opposition figures in Turkey, including Selahattin Demirtas, Figen Yuksekdag, Leyla Guven, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, and businessman Osman Kavala, as well as other elected officials and activists, are being unjustly imprisoned, Zeydan said. 

Zeydan was convicted of similar terror-related 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.

“For inclusive democracy and lasting peace, we as Kurds and the democratic opposition bloc as a whole have paid and continue to pay heavy prices,” he said.  

Despite ongoing hardships, he said Turkey faces a “historic opportunity” to achieve social peace and greater freedoms, referring to the ongoing Ankara-PKK peace process. 

Zeydan’s DEM Party has been the main mediator of the peace talks between the PKK and Ankara.

Founded in 1978, the PKK began as a movement for Kurdish independence but later redirected its efforts toward gaining political and cultural rights for Kurds in Turkey. Ankara and many Western governments classify the group as a terrorist organization.

Zeydan also noted that jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, held in isolation for 26 years, played a key role as a chief negotiator in past peace efforts. 

“For this new initiative, which we define as the Peace and Democratic Society Process, it is an inevitable requirement for the state to also take steps toward democratization for lasting, just, and social peace,” he said.  

Earlier this month, the DEM Party urged the Turkish parliamentary peace process commission to consult with Ocalan in relation to the development of Kurdish relations with Ankara in the wake of the PKK's disbandment.