The Kızıltepe Municipality in southeastern Mardin province, which is managed by a trustee appointed by the Turkish government, has changed the Kurdish names of three neighborhoods to Turkish, according to a report by online news outlet T24.
The municipality is run by Ahmet Odabaşı, appointed by the government on Dec. 6, 2016 to replace Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Mayor İsmail Asi. According to a decision taken by the municipal council, the Berçem, Aşiti and Medya neighborhoods of Kızıltepe were renamed Şahkulubey, Yenikent and Selahattin Eyyubi.
The Kurdish names of the three neighborhoods were given when the DBP was administering the municipality. Also, a statue dedicated to 12-year-old Uğur Kaymaz, who was killed with his father by security forces in 2004 in Kızıltepe, was removed on the orders of Odabaşı in June 2017. (turkishminute.com)
