On August 25, the Inner West Council in Sydney became the first local government body in Australia to adopt a motion in solidarity with Kurdish 23 mayors who have been removed from office by the Turkish state.

The motion condemned the “decision of the Turkish authorities to remove democratically elected mayors from office on the basis of questionable evidence;stresses that these actions continue to undermine the ability of the political opposition to exercise their rights and fulfil their democratic roles”.

It also called on the Turkish authorities to “reinstate all mayors and other elected officials who won local elections on 31 March 2019 and were prevented from assuming office or were dismissed or replaced with unelected trustees on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations”.

Copies of this resolution will be forwarded to the Turkish ambassador, the Turkish consul general, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, the local federal Member of Parliament (who is Labor opposition leader Anthony Albanese) and local Kurdish community organisations.

Greens councillor Colin Hesse, who moved the motion, said: “I was very pleased that all but one councillor voted to support the democratic rights of Kurds to elect the mayor of their communities in Turkey, and that the issue has been referred to the next conference of Local Government NSW.”

The Kurdish community and Kurdish solidarity groups are urging other city and regional councils to pass similar motions of solidarity.

Before the Inner West Council adopted this motion, Brad Pettitt, the mayor of Fremantle (in Western Australia) and several other local councillors from around the country had made statements in solidarity with the Kurdish mayors.

Greens MP David Shoebridge has also listed a solidarity motion for discussion in the state Parliament of New South Wales.