Peace in Kurdistan Campaign has written to UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab about the dismissal of the co-mayors of Diyarbakir, Van and Mardin by the Turkish Ministry of Interior on 19 August 2019. 

These dismissals have been made on unsubstantiated grounds of association with terrorism. Before the 31 March local elections, President Erdogan had warned that he would not tolerate elected officials representing the People’s Democratic Party (HDP).

In each of these three large metropolitan municipalities, where the representatives of the HDP were democratically elected, the majority of the population are Kurdish. 

Peace in Kurdistan wrote: "These dismissals, and their replacement by state-appointed governors, demonstrate that the current government in Turkey will not tolerate any representation of the Kurds or any manifestation of Kurdish political identity.

From across the political spectrum in Turkey and from Turkey’s legal and human rights bodies, the forced removal of the elected representatives has been condemned as a dangerous threat to democracy that must be challenged and reversed." 

Peace in Kurdistan called on the British government to "condemn and challenge the action of the Turkish Interior Ministry."

Peace in Kurdistan added: "The HDP has successfully campaigned to win representation in local government and in the National Assembly. Its members and supporters are drawn from across the different ethnic and religious communities that constitute Turkish society. It has sought a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey and for that has been targeted by the Turkish government that is led by President Erdogan."

Co-mayors of 96 HDP-held municipalities were dismissed prior to the latest action.

HDP MPs have been gaoled, over 8,000 HDP and other opposition members have been imprisoned for several years.

Thousands of local government employees have been sacked for their alleged political affiliations.

Today, said Peace in Kurdistan Campaign "police forces and government appointees are occupying the municipal buildings where elected representatives had once worked and carried out their democratic duties."

In recent years, British parliamentarians from different political parties have invited and discussed with HDP representatives in the Palace of Westminster and they have visited Turkey to meet HDP MPs. These parliamentarians also want a peaceful resolution of the Kurdish issue in Turkey and the Middle East. 

Peace in Kurdistan Campaign finally called on the Foreign Minister to "condemn the removal of the elected mayors and to demand that they be reinstated forthwith. We urge you to stress clearly to the Foreign Minister of Turkey that the British government wants to see the authorities in Turkey open a dialogue with the gaoled Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan as part of a process towards a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis in Turkey."