Story highlights "This is a political coup and ethnic cleansing," Kurdish lawmaker says

The 28 mayors are alleged to have ties to one of two groups Turkey deems terrorist

(CNN) Turkey's government replaced 28 mayors, whom the Interior Ministry accuses of terrorist ties, with trustees, sparking demonstrations and international concern.

The mayors are the latest to find themselves targeted in President Recep Erdogan's post-coup state of emergency, enacted in July.

According to the 10-day-old Decree Law No. 674, the government is allowed to replace mayors and city council members who "have been actively engaged in acts of terrorism and openly providing support to terrorism," an Interior Ministry statement said.

Four of the mayors are accused of having ties to the Fethullah Gulen Terrorist Organization, which Erdogan has claimed was behind the failed coup attempt, and 24 were allegedly linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency

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The mayors, who include 24 district mayors, two provincial mayors and two county mayors, most of them from the eastern portion of the country, are being prosecuted on charges of assisting the two groups, the Interior Ministry said. Twelve of the mayors have been arrested, its statement said.