Minister Yerlikaya on 'mayors removed for terror offenses': 'They cannot disrupt it, we will not allow it'

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, who attended the "Turkey's Peace Meeting" held at a hotel in Mardin, made statements to members of the press following the meeting.

Stating that no one can make the nation pay a price for treacherous ambitions, Minister Yerlikaya said, "We do not and will not allow any terrorist organization that attacks the unity, solidarity, and brotherhood of our nation, or the integrity of our state, to find shelter in our Mardin, in any region of Turkey, or beyond our borders. With God's permission, under the strong leadership of our President, we will reach our goal of a 'terror-free Turkey'.

There is no stopping until the last terrorist is neutralized. As we promised our noble nation, we are destroying the dens of those traitors, and we will continue to do so.

No one, no institution, and especially no municipality—which is elected by the votes of the people and whose duties are defined by our laws—can disrupt this struggle. We will not allow it.

If a mayor is convicted or arrested for a terror offense, that mayor is temporarily removed from office. The laws of the Republic of Turkey mandate this. Our understanding of internal security is clear, and our stance is known. Combating all kinds of crime and criminals is our primary duty," he said.

Stating that they carried out 2,591 operations in rural areas and 268 operations in cities in 2024 regarding the separatist PKK/KCK terrorist organization, Minister Yerlikaya continued his speech as follows:

"We see that 600 detentions, 95 arrests, and 43 judicial control decisions were made in the operations. In these rural and urban operations, 63 terrorists were neutralized in 2024. Likewise, our police and gendarmerie have carried out their operations regarding FETÖ, DAESH, and extreme left-wing terrorist organizations without stopping or pausing in 2024.

We would like to share with our fellow citizens in Mardin the figures: 72 operations regarding FETÖ with 15 arrests and 6 judicial controls; 12 operations regarding the DAESH terrorist organization with 6 arrests and 5 judicial controls; and one operation and one arrest regarding DHKP-C, MLKP, and other terrorist organizations.

Regarding the financing of terrorism, 5 operations were carried out in 2024, with 2 arrests, and 227 thousand 604 liras, which was dared to be used for the financing of terrorism, were seized. Regarding prevented terrorist acts, the figure is 6 terrorist acts in our city in 2024, specifically bombing attempts, which were prevented from being carried out by the PKK/KCK."

Yerlikaya said, "In 2024, 3 so-called high-level terrorists were neutralized. We would like to share these, 1 of whom was on the red list and 2 on the gray list, with our esteemed fellow citizens in Mardin.

We carried out operations without stopping or pausing in 2024 regarding drug production, trafficking, and use. We carried out 192 operations regarding production and trafficking. We carried out 1,015 operations regarding use. In total, we would like to share with you the figures of 153 arrests and 50 judicial controls," he said.

News Source: İHA