Sunni Cleric Killed in Southeast Iran

Abdolshakour Kord . Asharq Al-Awsat
Abdolshakour Kord . Asharq Al-Awsat
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Sunni Cleric Killed in Southeast Iran

Abdolshakour Kord . Asharq Al-Awsat
Abdolshakour Kord . Asharq Al-Awsat

Gunmen have shot dead a Sunni cleric in a town in southeast Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.

The report said Abdolshakour Kord was killed near a mosque in the Baluchi town of Khash.

IRNA said the cleric was active in both religious and academic fields and that the case is under investigation.

The deputy governor of Khash regretted the incident having taken place.

Anti-regime local sources accused the Iranian intelligence of being involved in the crime.

The authorities in the province announced that Kord’s funeral will be held Friday “with the participation of the nation’s different factions.”

Thursday’s shooting came after the death of an officer from the border guards during clashes with armed men in Sistan and Baluchestan Province on Wednesday.

The officer’s death also came one week after three from the Basij were killed in clashes with armed men in the same province.

Sistan and Baluchestan shares common borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan. 



Türkiye Replaces Pro-Kurdish Mayors with State Officials in 2 Cities

Fishermen fish on the Galata Bridge during heavy rain in Eminonu district of Istanbul on 21 November 2024. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)
Fishermen fish on the Galata Bridge during heavy rain in Eminonu district of Istanbul on 21 November 2024. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)
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Türkiye Replaces Pro-Kurdish Mayors with State Officials in 2 Cities

Fishermen fish on the Galata Bridge during heavy rain in Eminonu district of Istanbul on 21 November 2024. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)
Fishermen fish on the Galata Bridge during heavy rain in Eminonu district of Istanbul on 21 November 2024. (Photo by KEMAL ASLAN / AFP)

Türkiye stripped two elected pro-Kurdish mayors of their posts in eastern cities on Friday, for convictions on terrorism-related offences, the interior ministry said, temporarily appointing state officials in their places instead.

The local governor replaced mayor Cevdet Konak in Tunceli, while a local administrator was appointed in the place of Ovacik mayor Mustafa Sarigul, the ministry said in a statement, adding these were "temporary measures".
Konak is a member of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party, which has 57 seats in the national parliament, and Sarigul is a member of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). Dozens of pro-Kurdish mayors from its predecessor parties have been removed from their posts on similar charges in the past, Reuters reported.
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel said authorities had deemed that Sarigul's attendance at a funeral was a crime and called the move to appoint a trustee "a theft of the national will", adding his party would stand against the "injustice".
"Removing a mayor who has been elected by the votes of the people for two terms over a funeral he attended 12 years ago has no more jurisdiction than the last struggles of a government on its way out," Ozel said on X.
Earlier this month, Türkiye replaced three pro-Kurdish mayors in southeastern cities over similar terrorism-related reasons, drawing backlash from the DEM Party and others.
Last month, a mayor from the CHP was arrested after prosecutors accused him of belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), banned as a terrorist group in Türkiye and deemed a terrorist group by the European Union and United States.
The appointment of government trustees followed a surprise proposal by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main ally last month to end the state's 40-year conflict with the PKK.