Turkey on Monday ousted three mayors in the Kurdish-majority southeast who were elected in nationwide local elections, a replay of Ankara's sacking of dozens of such mayors in the wake of the previous round of elections, in 2019.

The government removed the leaders of two major cities, Ahmet Turk of Mardin and Gülistan Sonuk of Batman, and replaced them with trustees. Mehmet Karayilan, mayor of Halfeti, a subdistrict of Sanliurfa province, was dismissed as well. The trio had been elected in March on the ticket of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM). The Turkish Interior Ministry cited ongoing cases of terrorism against them as justification for their removal.

The dismissals follow the ouster and arrest of Ahmet Ozer, mayor of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district, last week for alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). A Kurdish academic and a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Ozer was similarly accused of links to the PKK, charges he denies.

The moves have provoked an outcry, and surprise, as they come amid the government’s purported efforts to forge a peace deal with imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Both President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ally Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), have supported the diplomatic effort.