Hundreds of people have gathered in Istanbul to protest against the arrest and removal from office of a mayor from Turkey's main opposition party for alleged links to a banned Kurdish militant group.

The dismissal of mayors in Mardin, Batman and Halfeti follows overtures by the government towards jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan

The Turkish government stripped three elected pro-Kurdish mayors of their posts in southeastern cities on Monday and replaced them with state officials, citing charges on terrorism-related offences. Turkey on Monday sacked three mayors facing terrorism charges in the Kurdish-majority southeast and replaced them with trustees,

Turkey on Monday sacked three mayors in the Kurdish-majority southeast on alleged "terrorism" charges, despite Ankara's apparent desire to seek a rapprochement with the Kurdish community.

Turkey dismissed the pro-Kurdish mayors of three southeastern cities on Monday for alleged ties to Kurdish militants, just two weeks after President Tayyip Erdogan's main ally made a proposal for ending the militants' 40-year insurgency in the southeast.

Turkey on Monday sacked three mayors facing terrorism charges in the Kurdish-majority southeast and replaced them with trustees. The Turkish government has removed dozens of elected Kurdish mayors in the southeast and replaced them with its own trustees.