The co-mayors of the Akdeniz Municipality ruled by the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Hoşyar Sarıyıldız and Nuriye Aslan, and municipal council members Özgür Çağlar, Neslihan Oruç, Yakup Danış and Hikmet Bakırhan, were taken into custody during house raids early Friday morning.  

After 24 hours of restriction on the detainees' access to lawyers, the co-mayors were allowed a meeting with lawyers at Mersin Security Directorate today.

According to information provided by the lawyers, the investigation file was opened in May 2024 and procedures to take the statements of the detainees will start today. The lawyers said that the co-mayors were in high morale and shared their message.

The co-mayors’ message was read aloud by musician Kadir Çat to the masses who continued the protest in front of the besieged municipality for the second day. The message said:

“We, co-mayors of Akdeniz Municipality who were elected by the will of our people and who have since provided services on the basis of justice and equality, have been unlawfully and undemocratically detained together with our council members. We are in good health and in high spirits. These practices aim to punish not only us, but also the will and honour of the people who elected us. However, we emphasise once again that we will not submit to this unlawfulness and that we will continue to fight for our people under all circumstances. We invite our people to protect their will, their right to elect and be elected. Our just struggle will win sooner or later, the will of the people will surely prevail against this order. We will win, the people will win, justice will win! Serkeftin.”