Kurds are on the streets to defend their municipalities since 19 August, when the AKP regime ordered the dismissal of the democratically and freely elected mayors of Amed, Van and Mardin. The people say they will not leave the streets until they get their municipalities back.

In Amed, HDP people have been protesting on Lise Street for 28 days. The people attending the Democracy Vigil told the ANF about the reasons that brought them to the streets and what the trustees mean to them.

People do not recognize the trustees

Erdoğan Zana said that they voted for Selçuk Mızraklı on 31 March and added: "Our people are trying to tell the trustees that they do notrecognize them. This is the meaning of this resistance here. Despite all the obstacles, the people continue to resist here. We will continue to be here as long as we can."

Makbule Güner stated that she joined this resistance in order to protect the votes they cast and added: "When we saw the trustee appointed we thought that our municipalities will be turned into police stations."

Ibrahim Yakut said: "The trustee has turned the municipality into a police station. There is no difference. We do not want them in our municipality. Because this is a violation of our will. Unless the trustees go, we will continue to be here. We will defend our will until the end. Because this municipality is not theirs, it is ours."

Abdulkadir Ekinci, who is one of the most familiar faces of the resistance area, has joined the action since the appointment of the trustees.

Ekinci stressed that the area of ​​resistance has taught him how to defend his right to protest. "I will come here no matter the weather, until the trustees go."

Summer or winter, we will be here

Makbule Akyüz said: "I do not know when this persecution will end. What is the job of the trustee in our municipalities? We will be here in summer or winter. Even if we die here, we will not get up until we send the trustee. What do they want from us?"

Kadriye Polat said that they will never accept the policu of trustee and added: "If someone enters your house today and lifts you from your table and throws you out, will you accept it? We have not voted for the trustee. We call for mothers sitting in front of the HDP provincial organization, to think about it. Do they think that sitting there is the solution? Let them know that they are part of the same dirty game [played by the AKP]."

Kudret Eryilmaz said that municipalities mean honor for the people. "The municipalities are the labor of our children. The blood of our martyrs. We come here for all of these. The first thing that comes to our minds is corruption. When we think of the trustees we think of their hatred for us. If the people wanted them, they would have voted for them."