The mayors had been on trial since September 2006 over a letter they wrote to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in December 2005, asking him to ignore Ankara's calls to ban the Denmark-based Kurdish television station Roj TV.

The Turkish authorities say Roj TV is a mouthpiece of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a bloody separatist campaign in the mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984 and is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community.

The court in Diyarbakir, the main city of the southeast, threw out the prosecution's demand for up to 15 years in jail for the defendants for supporting the PKK, but found them guilty of "praising criminals."

The judge sentenced 53 mayors to two months and 15 days in jail each and converted their sentences into fines of 1,875 Turkish liras (about 1,400 dollars, 900 euros) on account of their good behaviour in court.

Among those convicted is Osman Baydemir, mayor of Diyarbakir and one of Turkey's most popular Kurdish politicians.

The court acquitted three other mayors who said their names were placed among signatories on the letter without their knowledge.

Defence lawyers said they would appeal the verdict.

All the defendants belong to the Democratic Society Party, the country's main Kurdish party which faces a possible ban for alleged links to the PKK.

Kurdish politicians are often suspected of supporting the rebels and are routinely prosecuted.

Roj TV has long poisoned Turkish-Danish relations.

During a visit to Copenhagen in November 2005, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan boycotted a joint news conference with Rasmussen after the Dane rejected his request that a Roj TV reporter be barred from entry.

Danish authorities said in 2006 that Roj TV's programming contains no incitement to hatred of Turkey and there is no proof it is linked to the PKK.