The Istanbul chief prosecutor's office launched an investigation on Friday into a top official at Turkey's main business group TUSIAD who had criticised a recent judicial crackdown on opposition leaders and journalists.

Turkey’s government dismissed the Kurdish mayor of the eastern province of Van after he was sentenced to prison for terrorism charges, marking the latest in a wave of arrests and investigations across the country that have ensnared national politicians and journalists.

Turkish authorities have sacked another elected pro-Kurdish mayor over a terrorism-linked conviction, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday. Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party Mayor Abdullah Zeydan of the south-eastern city of Van was replaced with the local governor over his conviction on "assisting an armed terrorist