Turkey ousts 3 elected pro-Kurdish mayors from office and replaces them with state officials

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has removed three elected pro-Kurdish mayors from office over terrorism-related charges and replaced them with state-appointed officials. The move on Monday followed the arrest and ouster from office of a main opposition party mayor for his alleged links to a banned Kurdish militant group. It is seen as a hardening of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government’s policies toward the opposition. It also raises questions about the prospects of a tentative new peace effort to end a 40-year conflict between the militant group and the state that has led to tens of thousands of deaths. The pro-Kurdish mayors were sacked over their past convictions or ongoing trials and investigations for links to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an Interior Ministry statement said.