The story of how the AKP rules and destroys Edremit

Edremit, the district of Van, known for its historical and natural beauties, has recently become a center of income for AKP members, trustees and village guards.

The trustees appointed to the Edremit district since September 2016 are taking everything from the people. Not satisfied with the municipality, the trustees are now seizing public lands under the excuse of a 'new revision plan'.

Although HDP won with 70 percent of the votes in the 2019 elections, Edremit Municipality was forcibly handed over to AKP trustee Ismail Say, which succeeded another trustee, Atıf Çiçekli. At the handover ceremony he held with Ismail Say, Atıf Çiçekli openly said: “The people of Edremit were ungrateful to us in the elections. To continue on this line wouldn't do them any good.”

Trustee Çiçekli, who ran the usurped municipality for three years, turned Edremit into a concrete place. Concrete walls and parks were built on the shore of Lake Van. AKP's İsmail Say, who lost the 2019 local elections against the HDP was appointed as a mayor when the HDP co-mayor was removed. Edremit has been ruled by AKP trustee İsmail Say for three years. Both trustees have exploited the resources of the place without any scruple.

As soon as the first trustee was appointed, his first job was to set his eyes on a 70,000-decare treasury land. Çiçekli immediately opened this land for development, and started to build houses on this land based on the decision of the non-existent city council. This land, which belongs to the public, was almost donated to pro-AKP companies. When he was first appointed to Edremit as District Governor, Çiçekli did not own any property. Now he owns two villas in Edremit.

Appointed as the mayor of Edremit after Çiçek, AKP's Ismail Say also working with 7 deputy mayors, contrary to the law, while Edremit should have had two deputy mayors according to the population ratio.

Say allowed the construction of 9-storey buildings in the neighbourhood of Abdurrahman Gazi, despite the public's objections to the new revision plan.

Van Metropolitan Municipality Real Estate Expropriation Department Head, Sinan Özdemir, is also busy hiring his relatives in the municipality. Özdemir hired his brother Ali Özdemir as "civil engineer". His wife Esma Gölgül Özdemir, who worked in Tusba Municipality, was employed by Van Metropolitan Municipality, also run by a trustee. Many AKP couples receive salaries in Van Metropolitan Municipality.