JINHA

WAN – Turkish officials have removed Sevil Rojbin Çetin, co-mayor of the largely Kurdish town of Edremit, from her post. Sevil Rojbin is the fifth female co-mayor removed from duty by the state.

In Turkey’s most recent local elections, many local municipalities in Northern Kurdistan (in Turkey) implemented the co-mayor system, where a male and female share the office of mayor in order to achieve gender parity in local government. The Turkish state has escalated its campaign of oppression against women co-mayors recently, removing a fifth co-mayor from duty. The co-mayors have been removed from duty after attending gatherings where citizens declared self-government in their towns, in response to Turkish state violence.

Sevil Rojbin Çetin, co-mayor of the town of Edremit, was arrested on August 24 after attending a declaration of self-government by the town’s residents. Sevil Rojbin is now jailed and facing charges. She has been removed from office on the initiative of the state-appointed provincial governor.

The women co-mayors of Silvan, Sur, Nusaybin and Cizre have also been removed from duty on similar charges, despite the fact that all of them were elected with at least 80% of the vote. Notably, woman co-mayor Leyla İmret of Cizre was removed from duty just days after Turkish security forces killed 24 civilians in a nine-day siege of the town.

(ht/fk/cm)