A central rally for ‘Democracy and Freedom’ will be held in Batman province on 17 November. The rally is promoted by the Platform of Democratic Institutions, which announced a declaration of the rally yesterday.

DTK (Democratic Society Congress) Co-Chair Berdan Öztürk and DBP (Democratic Regions Party) Co-Chair Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar called for strong participation in the central demonstration this Sunday. The rally coincides with ongoing protests against the usurpation of the Mardin, Batman and Halfeti municipalities on 4 November through the removal of the democratically elected co-mayors and appointment of state officials in their place.

Calling the government's usurpation of DEM Party municipalities ‘a hostile practice’, DTK Co-Chair Berdan Öztürk emphasised that Kurds are resisting the genocide policies of the AKP-MHP government.

Öztürk said, “The government, which does not recognise the Kurdish people’s will and appointed trustees to their municipalities for the third time, threatens to attack the Kurdish people. It appoints trustees to the will elected by the Kurdish people. It states that it does not accept the will of the Kurdish people. Apart from that, it constantly renews its threat to attack the Kurdish people. The Kurds do not accept this imposition and they resist everywhere. One of the centres of this resistance is Batman and the people have been resisting for days. Let's come together at the rally area on 17 November to build an honourable peace against slavery.”

Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chair Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar said: “The People's Alliance (the ruling bloc) is making statements about normalization. This is an effort to design domestic politics. The statements made after the latest Cabinet Meeting are statements of genocide. Batman is one of the centres of the struggle for Kurdish democracy. They are trying to present the gains of the Kurdish people in Batman to Hezbollah. The people of the city continue their resistance against them. Our struggle seeks to grow democratic politics. What we are facing today is not normalisation, but a government that is trying to survive by attacking the gains of the Kurdish people. Mr Öcalan's ideas have come to life in many parts of the world. The hope that this country can hold on to is Mr Öcalan's proposals for a solution. The government should recognise this and take steps accordingly. We invite everyone to the rally for Mr Öcalan's freedom and for an honourable peace. Let us manifest our resistance. The government tries to solve problems by violence. We will organise a big rally against the trustees. We will organise a rally guided by the philosophy of ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadî’(Woman, Life, Freedom).”