The authorities moved to arrest co-mayors throughout the Kurdish regions, appointing government trustees to take their place. So far, trustees have been appointed to take over the administration of an estimated 40 of the 103 communities affiliated with the H.D.P.

One of the first things the trustees have done in recent weeks is to begin to dismantle the co-executives, closing some women’s centers and ruling the diversion of abusers’ paychecks illegal.

“This crackdown is actually aiming at women and shutting down women’s organizations,” said Feleknas Uca, a member of Parliament from Diyarbakir. “It’s a blow against women’s freedom. They made lots of statements like, ‘You should go and have three kids.’”

The gender rights transformation in Kurdish areas of eastern Turkey goes back more than a decade, though it gained momentum in government when the H.D.P. party did so well nationally the last few years. While pro-Kurdish, the party also includes ethnic Turkish members. Much of the H.D.P. philosophy comes from the ideology of the P.K.K., whose leader, Abdullah Ocalan, from early on promoted women as equal partners with men, even on the battlefield.

To many left-leaning women in Turkey and the West, the P.K.K. is thus considered a heroic champion of gender equality and one that, unlike other revolutionary groups, has managed to put its principles into practice, not only on the battlefield but also in homes.

This has happened in a society that traditionally was strongly patriarchal, where polygamy was common, honor killings accepted and girls not allowed to sit at the same table as their fathers. Pregnant women were not allowed in public, and women were admonished not to be seen laughing.