Following an instruction from Turkish Ministry of Interior, 7 of the total 14 HDP members of Muş Provincial General Council have been removed from post.

HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) was constituting the majority in Muş Provincial General Council. With this mass dismissal, the HDP group has lost half of its members; Kader Erol, Filiz Aydın, Ceyhan Aydemir, Suat Kalın, Mehmet Şakir Tuğrul, Musa Kaya and Mehmet Demir. The Council in total consisted of 14 HDP members, 8 AKP members and 1 MHP member.

No justification was provided for the dismissals.

Protesting the decision, HDP Muş MP Şevin Coşkun said; “The AKP-MHP alliance which was defeated in the Istanbul elections of March 31 and June 23, has started to attack our party. Trustees have been appointed to three of our municipalities. Our people are expressing their reactions against this political coup everywhere they are.”

Coşkun continued; “This is a continuation of the political coup. Our members of the provincial council who were elected with the votes of our people have been unlawfully removed from office. We will continue to fight against this seizure of will to the end.”