ERZURUM - The deposed co-mayor of Karayazı, Burhanettin Şahin (HDP), has been imprisoned. What the politician is accused of is not known.

 

The democratically elected and unlawfully deposed co-mayor of the Karayazı district in Eruzurum province, Burhanettin Şahin of the HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party), has been imprisoned. On Thursday a court in the province of Erzurum ordered the politician to be remanded in custody. On which basis Şahin was jailed, is unclear. It is suspected that a so-called terror trial has been initiated.

 

Mayor Burhanettin Şahin, who was removed from office about a year ago at the instigation of the Turkish Ministry of the Interior, was arrested on Monday in a raid by the military police (gendarmerie). Security forces had also stormed the apartments of Mahmut Çimendağ, Fesih Polat and Adil Bingöl. Until yesterday, the four were held by the district gendarmerie command. Yesterday evening they were sent to the Erzurum Closed Prison after appearing in court. The counterpart of Şahin, co-mayor Melike Göksu, has been in prison for a year.