(Bloomberg) -- Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said there are no current plans to remove the opposition party mayor of the country's largest city.
Soylu's comments during a televised interview with CNNTurk on Sunday were an attempt to elaborate on his earlier remarks that appeared to suggest Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and Ankara's Mansur Yavas risked being sacked by the central government.
Turkey Fires Kurdish Mayors Ahead of Military Push Into Syria
Soylu said his earlier comments were taken out of context and that there was no plan to oust the two municipal chiefs.
The interior minister still defended the government's decision to fire dozens of elected mayors in southeastern towns and cities on security grounds. He said those who were ousted recently had been collaborating with the separatist Kurdish militant group PKK, considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.
To contact the reporter on this story: Onur Ant in Istanbul at oant@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Paul Abelsky
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