After three days in custody, the co-mayors of Mersin’s Akdeniz District Municipality, Hoşyar Sarıyıldız and Nuriye Aslan, as well as City Council members Özgür Çağlar, Neslihan Oruç and Hikmet Bakırhan, were remanded in custody early this morning. Citing secret witness testimonies, the elected representatives of the DEM Party were charged with "membership in an illegal organization", "providing financing for an illegal organization", "propaganda for an illegal organization" and "opposition to Article 2911".

Thirty bar associations released a joint statement denouncing the dismissal of elected public administrators without a finalised court decision and the appointment of trustees in their place as a violation of the rule of law and democracy.

The joint statement by the bar associations of Adıyaman, Ağrı, Antalya, Aydın, Balıkesir, Batman, Bitlis, Bingöl, Burdur, Bursa, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Antep, Hakkari, Hatay, Iğdır, Istanbul, İzmir, Kars, Kastamonu, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Muş, Siirt, Urfa, Şırnak, Dersim, Van and Zonguldak includes the following:

“The trusteeship practice, which was initiated shortly after the 31 March local elections, continued today with the targeting of Mersin’s Akdeniz District Municipality, following the municipalities of Esenyurt, Mardin, Hakkari, Batman, Halfeti, Tunceli and Ovacık. The mayor of Akdeniz, lawyer Hoşyar Sarıyıldız, was suspended by the Ministry of Interior in accordance with Article 47 of the Municipality Law and remanded in custody. He was replaced by a trustee appointed by the Mersin Governorate in accordance with Articles 45 and 46 of the Municipality Law.

The investigation procedures and practices in the process are in clear and multifaceted violation of the Constitution and international conventions to which Turkey is a party. The search, detention and arrest procedures have violated Articles 2, 19, 20, 127 and 138 of the Constitution.

The dismissal of an elected public administrator without a finalised court decision and the appointment of a trustee in his/her place is a violation of the rule of law and democracy.  The Constitution, the will of the people, democratic values, and the right to elect and be elected have once again been ignored. The mayors and municipal council members elected by popular will are the representatives of the people. Respecting the will of the people is the basic condition of democracy. Our Republic, whose 102nd anniversary we will celebrate, is a democratic, secular state of law based on popular sovereignty.

We, the undersigned bar associations, emphasise that we will continue to defend democracy and the will of the nation against the trusteeship practice, that the investigation into the unlawfully arrested and dismissed mayors and council members should be carried out within the framework of the rule of law, and we call for their reinstatement as elected public administrators.”