Sinn Féin’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Seán Crowe TD, has criticised the arrest of the co-Mayors of the city of Diyarbakir, the capital of the Kurdish region in the southeast of Turkey.

Deputy Crowe:

“I want to wholeheartedly condemn the arrest of the Kurdish political representatives Gültan Kisanak and Firat Anli, the co-Mayors of Diyarnakir. These latest arrests are part of a co-ordinated Government crackdown on the political opposition and various elements of civil society in Turkey.

“22 elected co-mayors are currently imprisoned in Turkey and 33 more have been removed from their executive roles. The anti-democratic policies of the Turkish government are completely unjust, unacceptable, and pushing the country further along the path to a dictatorship.

“I am calling on the Turkish Government to end its repressive tactics and release the 22 co-Mayors it has imprisoned, including Gültan Kisanak and Firat Anli”

ENDS