After the resignation of several MHP (nationalist party) officials who joined the BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) it was now the turn of the ruling party. Five politicians from a local branch of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in southeastern Turkey resigned on Thursday to join the BDP ahead of parliamentary elections on June 12.

The five politicians, including Mayor Feyzi Aslan from Akarsu in Mardin's Nusaybin district, joined the BDP in a ceremony attended by local BDP officials.

The resignations came a day after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan addressed people in Diyarbakýr.