Turkey replaces 28 elected officials with appointees

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s pledge came at the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on Monday and the Turkish leader says the aid will be delivered along specific routes at sundown.

Twenty-eight trustees were appointed to oversee local administrations Sunday following the suspension of mayors accused of links to terrorism, the Interior Ministry said.

Get breaking news right in your inbox.

Four people, including a deputy mayor, were briefly detained in a minor skirmish outside city hall in the southeastern province of Hakkari.

While Turkish authorities conduct their investigations, the statement said, “we note the importance of respect for judicial due process and individual rights, including the right of peaceful political expression”.

In an interview with Turkish news agency Haberturk, Kalin said the Turkish forces in cooperation with the USA -led coalition are next planning to free the city of Al-Bab which has been under the Islamic State’s control since mid-November, 2013.

The U.S. Embassy in Ankara posted a statement on its website and Twitter that it is concerned by reports of clashes in southeastern Turkey, following the government decision to remove the mayors.

The 24 municipalities had been run by the pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the third largest party in parliament, which denies direct links to the militants.

“Just like Feto, the PKK stands no chance against our sagacious people and the power of our state”.

The interior ministry said the 28 mayors, 12 of whom are formally under arrest, were under investigation for providing “assistance and support” to the PKK and to Gulen’s organisation.

Turkish media reported Internet and electricity were out in the affected cities in the morning, but no official reason was given for the outage.

Police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse demonstrators outside local government buildings in Suruc on the Syrian border as new administrators took over, security sources said.

Nobel-winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, writing in Italy’s La Repubblica, expressed fear Turkey was “heading towards a regime of terror” after the detention of a prominent journalist on Saturday.

Turkey was stronger, more resolute and more dynamic than before coup attempt, Erdogan said.

Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press.