Sıtkı Dursun, the coordinator of Suruç responsible for refugee work of the Urfa Metropolitan Municipality, which is run by the AKP, has been removed from his position and exiled to another institution as he criticised AKP’s policies towards the refugees from Kobanê.

Sıtkı Dursun opened the doors of his house in the Mehser village of Suruç to people who had to flee from Kobanê during the attacks of the ISIS gangs. Dursun said the aid and the money sent to the AFAD tent city, run by the state, had not been distributed to people from Kobanê and the aid coming for the Kobanê people was put into stores by the municipality and is now being distributed to local people as an election investment. Dursun also added that AKP members have confiscated large amounts of money collected for the refugees.

The Suruç coordinator of the Urfa Municipality has been removed from his position and assigned to a new one in the Education Department in the city as he supported the people from Kobanê and developed good relations with the Suruç municipality run by the DBP.

Dursun told that he has been removed from his position as he had opened his house to refugees from Kobanê during the war period and said: “I live in Mehser village, which turned into the backyard of the Kobanê resistance. Tens of thousands of people flocked to our village during the intense attacks of the gangs on Kobanê. It was my human duty to open the doors of my house to these people”. Dursun added that the new job that he has been assigned to has nothing to do with his profession and the reason for this appointment is also the good relations he developed with the Suruç municipality run by the DBP.

Dursun said he was put under pressure by the AKP authorities during his work as coordinator in Suruç to make AKP propaganda amongst the refugees. He said that his job was to maintain the coordination between the Suruç municipality and the Metropolitan Municipality of Urfa and that he had good relations with the Suruç municipality as with the other district municipalities, adding that the AKP authorities did not enjoy developing good relations with the municipalities run by the DBP. Dursun said the AKP executives did not want to provide services for a DBP-run municipality, adding that the AKP has taken away almost everything the Suruç municipality had.

Dursunsaid the Metropolitan municipality has to provide 70% of the services in Suruç, however had done nothing and spread propaganda that the Suruç municipality was not working. He added that the Suruç municipality is the hardest working municipality in Urfa province, despite the limited means it has.

Dursun added that the Urfa Municipality did not distribute the aid collected for the refugees in Suruç, but kept it in store houses in order to distribute it during the elections. Dursun said the state-run tent city of AFAD in Suruç was not set up to help the people from Kobanê, adding that only 10% of the aid reaching the camp was distributed to the people. Dursun said the aid and the money collected for the AFAD tent city is now being distributed to local people as an election investment to gain votes for the AKP.