Following the appointment of trustees to the municipalities of Batman, Mardin and Halfeti by the Ministry of Interior on 4 November and removal of the co-mayors elected in the 31 March local elections, protests continue in many cities of Kurdistan.

Masses took part in a protest march in Batman on Sunday, including the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chairs Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar and Keskin Bayındır, members of Adana Women's Platform, Amed (Diyarbakır) Metropolitan and district municipality co-mayors, Van Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayors, Dersim Municipality Co-Mayors, Free Women's Movement (Tevgera Jinên Azad-TJA) activists, Peace Mothers‘ Assembly members, Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) MPs and Batman Municipality Co-Mayors Gülistan Sönük and Yeşil Işık.

The march from Yılmaz Güney Park to Basın Junction in the city center was led by the Peace Mothers, holding hands at the front. After reaching the Basın Junction, citizens in the neighbourhood joined the march and sang songs together.

Speaking here, DEM Party Provincial Co-Chair Songül Korkmaz said, “We will continue our resistance in all our neighbourhoods until the trustee gives back the will of this people. We never see the trustee appointments as legitimate, our council members will continue their duties.”

Aracı: We will not allow them to usurp the will of women and the people

Sevil Aracı, a member of Adana Women's Platform, said, “We are against the trustee appointments and we continue to speak out. We have known about the trustee practices since 2019, when they closed our women's associations and tried to silence women. As women, we will resist against the trustees. They appoint trustees not only in municipalities, but also in universities and trade unions. Those who gave Kazdağı to Cengiz Holding are the same mentality as those who appointed trustees. The people of Batman voted for mayor Gülistan. We will not allow them to usurp the will of women and the people. The way to do this is unity. Together with all democracy forces and those in favour of human rights, we will fend off these attacks.”

Adana Women's Platform member Şilan Sürmeli also expressed their support for the democratically elected co-mayor, Gülistan Sönük.

Şedal: We will not leave these streets without taking our municipalities

Neslihan Şedal, Co-Mayor of Van Metropolitan Municipality, stated the following: “The biggest answer is given by women and youth. They have been pursuing dirty, special war policies in these lands for years. But people respond to these policies with great enthusiasm and will. Stop these dirty policies, you are getting nothing. You are losing day by day. You, too, know that the people of Batman will win. We promise that we will not leave these streets without taking our municipalities. This municipality belongs to the people, women and youth. But we know that the issue is not only the municipality, these dirty policies will never end until they are gone. When we send them away, the municipalities will also be free.”

Hatun: Everyone in Kurdistan is claiming their will on the streets

Amed Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Doğan Hatun said, “You have to recognise the will of this people. Everyone in Kurdistan is claiming their will on the streets. You will recognise our will. You cannot finish us, you cannot bring us to our knees. You could not bring us to our knees for years, you have seen this. We call out to those who do not recognise this will; the people of Batman are here. You, too, should come here. You may get the buildings but know that we are defending our language, our will and our land. We will not surrender our land, our language and our will.”

Zeydan: This people have never compromised their honour

Van Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Abdullah Zeydan noted that the people have been defending their will in the field for a week and said: “Here we are defending our honour, the honour of the Kurdish people, the honour of democracy and freedom. Trusteeship is usurpation, theft, plunder and poverty. This people have never compromised their honour. Despite all the attacks, there is the reality of a people who will not give up their honour. Those who want to steal the will of the Kurdish people should look at history. Those who say ‘I am able’ are in the waste bin of history today. Recognise the will of this people and don’t make the same mistake. The Kurdish people will not give up their resistance until their will is recognised and the municipality is taken over. Our people are in legitimate defence. Raise your alliances and resistance. We will take our municipality, together with the Kurdish people and those who want peace.”

Kartal: Long live democracy against trustee appointments

“The government wants to create a society that does not think and does not organise. We say ‘Long live democracy against trustee appointments’,” said Petrol Labour Union President Veysel Kartal and then read the joint declaration prepared by 48 organisations against trustees.

Sönük: We will overthrow this male-dominated understanding of yours

Co-Mayor of Batman Municipality, Gülistan Sönük, who was replaced by a trustee, said, “Let us say it again from here today; trustee appointments are a blow to the hope of a livable city for everyone. It is a blow to the hope of young people to get rid of substance addiction and build a new life. You thought that you would get results with these trustees, but you will be wrong as you were wrong in history. You want to isolate women in society and destroy their will, but you are wrong. We are calling out from this area that you have turned into an area of resistance; we will overthrow this male-dominated understanding of yours against the barricades.”

Uçar: The trustee is an enemy of nature, Kurds and common life

DBP Co-Chair Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar stated the following: “Batman has a critical position in the Kurdish freedom struggle. Edip Solmaz (who was assassinated on 12 November 1979 after 28 days as mayor) was elected as the will of the Kurdish people at a time when the Kurdish identity couldn’t even be mentioned. Since that day, the people of Batman said ‘I will embrace my will’. This resistance by the people of Batman is the will for freedom. After the AKP appointed trustees, the President congratulated the judiciary. The people know the municipalities, Batman, Mardin and Halfeti best. Halfeti is Mr Öcalan's hometown, a place that has established the will for a common life. Mardin is a place where Arabs, Turks and Kurds live together. By appointing trustees there, the state mind showed that the solution has nothing to do with the Kurdish people. Batman is a women's libertarian city. The people responded to the centuries-old mind of the state with ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadî’ (Woman, Life, Freedom) by electing Gülistan Sönük. We participated in the local elections so that women would not be alienated from their own identity by special war policies, and we won. Neither the trustee can change this, nor the tyranny of the state.

The Ministry of Interior defended the people confronting the demonstrators in the streets, proving that ‘the police can use violence against those who seek their rights’. We will continue to be on the streets against your violence. This process will not be like 2016 - 2019. The people of Batman will send the trustee you have appointed away.  The trustee is an enemy of nature, Kurds and common life. Our struggle is not against the trustee himself, but for the realisation of the will for common life. The trusteeship is an issue arising from the lack of a solution to the Kurdish question. The most precious thing this country can hold on to is a democratic solution to the Kurdish question. Remove your trustees, lift the isolation, give up your special war policies. You have lost a century, so let's build a real peace in the second century with Mr Öcalan's paradigm and the will of the peoples. We will continue to stand side by side until the trustee is removed.”

After the statements, the people started to dance to Kurdish songs, to which the police responded with a crackdown. While the people did not disperse despite the attack, the police continued the attack with pepper spray and water cannons.

The resistance of the people continues.