Video: The Kurdish community in Sydney held a protest on August 21 outside NSW Parliament, against the recent removal of elected Kurdish mayors in Turkey.
Turkish arrests
Human rights organisations, solidarity groups and the European Union have condemned the Turkish government’s removal of three democratically elected HDP (Peoples Democratic Party) mayors on August 19 and the arrests of more than 450 municipal officers and staff.
Members of Melbourne’s Kurdish community rallied outside the city’s Turkish consulate on October 28 to protest the arrests of the co-mayors of the city of Diyarbakir in south-east Turkey.
The two mayors, Gültan Kişanek and Firat Ali, were arrested on October 25 and accused of links to the banned Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). Kişanek is also an elected member of the Turkish Parliament for the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party. She is also the city’s first female mayor.