Trustee removes the signboard at Cegerxwin Culture Centre in Amed

The intolerance of appointed trustees to usurped DBP municipalities towards statues and monuments in parks, gardens and common areas, as well as Kurdish names continue.

The trustees appointed by the state in place of elected mayors at the DBP-held municipalities usurped by the government continue to change the names that became a symbol for the Kurds due to their intolerance towards the values of the Kurdish people and never-ending efforts to wipe them out.

Following the recent demolishment of a memorial depicting famous Kurdish writer, poet and intellectual Ehmedê Xanî in Doğubeyazıt district of Ağrı, now Amed's Kayapınar District Municipality trustee, district governor Mustafa Kılıç, has removed the signboard at Amed's major Youth, Culture and Art Centre named after one of the most famous Kurdish poets, Cegerxwin, without announcing any official reason.

The signboard of the Cegerxwin Youth Culture and Art Centre had been installed by the DBP-held municipality of Kayapınar in April 2010 since when academic, Kurdish music and art lessons and courses were given at the culture centre. The centre was also seized by the trustee and all the activities were put on ice following a raid and confiscation of materials by police forces in December, 2016.

The trustee Mustafa Kılıç also had the Roboski Monument in Rojava Park demolished by the police in December. The monument had been erected 4 years ago in memory of the victims of Roboski massacre in which 34 civilians were killed by the bombardment of Turkish warplanes near Şırnak’s Roboski village on December 28, 2011.

Unable to break the Kurdish people's will, the AKP regime took to the enforcement of cultural genocide and destroys everything which can be linked to the Kurdish people. The intolerance of appointed trustees to usurped DBP municipalities towards statues and monuments in parks, gardens and common areas continue.

Last month, state-appointed trustee at the usurped Erciş municipality issued a decree for the demolition of the '7 June Freedom Park' opened in 2015.

Before that, the trustee at the usurped municipality of Van's Çatak district, changed the name of the park which the DBP-held municipality had named after Head of Amed Bar Association, Tahir Elçi murdered in Amed on 28 November, 2015. The trustee named the park after a dead village guard named Ali Ogün.

The monument of Kurdish philosopher, writer and poet Ehmedê Xanî in Doğubeyazıt district of Ağrı was torn down on instruction of the trustee appointed to the municipality on 26 June.

The monument erected in memory of Uğur Kaymaz, the 12 year old boy killed with 13 state bullets, was also removed from Mardin's Kızıltepe district on June 10.

The Lamassus statue in front of the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, the Orhan Doğan relief in Cizre, reliefs from the Mervani civilization in Diyarbakır and the Ahmed Arif statue in Diyarbakır were similarly removed or destroyed since the trustees took office.