The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) won the municipality in Tatvan district of Bitlis, which had been fraudulently transferred to the AKP in the previous local elections, by a large margin in the 31 March election despite the fraud and the use of transported voters. Co-Mayor of Tatvan Municipality, Mümin Erol, emphasised that they are committed to all their promises.

Speaking to ANF, Mümin Erol said, "We had a claim from the first day we took the field, that we would win this election with an overwhelming majority, and we won with a difference of 6 thousand. We thank our people. Indeed, our people were already feeling tired and had a stance against the authoritarian system. We tried to be their voice, and we ended up with a victory."

'We are committed to all our promises'

Mümin Erol stated that they will make an intense effort to do everything they promised during the election campaign, but first they will expose the crimes of the AKP municipality. He continued: "We will pay attention to everything we promised during the election campaign. We will try to realise what we promised. We will practice questioning, examination and review of the past. We will finalise this review successfully and share the results with our people. Secondly, we have a very dirty city. We have a lot of areas that we need to repair down to the paving stones. We will do them. We have expressed our water problem everywhere. We will conduct our examinations in all neighbourhoods, identify the problem and develop solutions. We will try to build a city with clean, drinkable water and we will address our traffic problem. We will organise public transport in the city. We will realise our short, medium and long term plans."

'With the understanding of social municipality'

Remarking that they will bring services to the city in accordance with the understanding of social municipalism and that they will carry out joint work with both young people and women, Erol said, "Everything we say in terms of social municipalism, the bread factory, distribution points, what we say about youth will be realised. We will work in line with the demands of the young people. We will realise the coastal road projects. We will do these together with young people and in line with their suggestions."

'We will not be associated with corruption'

Stating that they will save Tatvan from being a city known for corruption, Erol said that they will build a city where there is transparent, participatory democracy, respect for human rights and no crime. Stressing that the government resorts to tricks to keep every area in its hands, Erol drew attention to the situation in the centre of Bitlis and added: "They did the same corruption in Bitlis centre as they did in Tatvan in 2019. We see that there are too many invalid votes and that votes given to other parties have been shifted to the AKP. We have seen that this despotic power, which wants to dominate everywhere, has also done this in Bitlis. The struggle against this will continue."