Turkey appoints acting district mayors amid terror case

VAN/DIYARBAKIR, Turkey 

Turkey Tuesday appointed acting district mayors in the eastern Van and southeastern Diyarbakir provinces after mayors were suspended over suspected links to terrorism.

In Van, District Governor Nuri Mehmetbeyoglu was appointed as the acting mayor of Ercis district after Yildiz Cetin of Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) was arrested as part of an ongoing terrorism investigation, the provincial governorate said.

Cetin is standing trial over the charges of terror group membership and spreading terror propaganda.

Later in Diyarbakir, district governors of Kayapinar, Bismil, and Kocakoy were appointed as the acting mayors after Keziban Yilmaz, mayor of Kayapinar, Orhan Ayaz, mayor of Bismil, and Rojda Nazlier, mayor of Kocakoy, -- all were from the HDP -- were arrested on Monday as part of an ongoing terrorism investigation. 

The mayors were charged with being member of terror group.

Unal Koc, Kerem Suleyman Yuksel, and Yasin Yunak were appointed as acting governors of Kayapinar, Bismil, and Kocakoy, respectively.

In mid-August, mayors in Diyarbakir, Mardin, and Van provinces were suspended over alleged terror links. They were all from the HDP, which Turkey's government accuses of having links to the PKK terror group.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the European Union -- has been responsible for deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

* Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur