Mehmet Sıddık Akış of the DEM Party was elected the Mayor of Hakkari province, winning 48.92 percent of the vote in the elections held on 31 March. He was taken into custody in Van this morning and the municipality was blockaded. The Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that Akış was suspended from duty and a trustee was appointed in his place.

The Central Executive Committee (MYK) of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) held an extraordinary meeting at the party headquarters in Ankara following the usurpation of the Hakkari Municipality. Parliamentary Group Deputy Chair Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit held a press conference after the meeting.

Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit emphasised that the decision to appoint a trustee is a political decision and that the judiciary has become an apparatus of politics. Koçyiğit said, “Suspension from duty, usurpation of will and coup against democracy by fabricating a legal cover is one of the most horrible crimes committed by this government in this century.”

Koçyiğit pointed out that the society is being manipulated through perception operations and said, “Turkey is ruled by a party mindset that considers itself superior to the constitution. A government that holds elections when it wants and appoints trustees to municipalities when it wants is ruling Turkey. But there is something it does not take into account; the fact that the people have nailed down democracy.”

“Kurdish people have swept the putschist mentality and trustees into the wastebasket in the elections,” said Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit and added, “With this decision to appoint a trustee, the government started to take revenge on our municipalities for its defeat in the 31 March elections. To start with, they set a trap against our elected co-mayor in Van, Mr Abdullah Zeydan, and did not give him his certificate of election after he was elected. The people of Van claimed their will and took back what already belonged to them.”

Defining the appointment of trustees as an open attack on the will of the people, Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit said: “This is a law of the state of emergency. The will usurpation through Decree Laws is still used today as a policy of intimidation against Kurds through political coups. In other words, the state of emergency imposed on the Kurds never ends. The law of exception applied to the Kurds never ends in this country. The more we insist on democratic politics, the more the government tries to dissuade us from this insistence. The fallacies of normalisation and moderation have been going on for days. Is this normalisation? Is this your first step towards a democratic constitution? The AKP-MHP government's claim of normalisation has collapsed.

The claims of a new constitution have been buried under the wreckage of trustees. It has once again become clear that the claim of a new constitution and normalisation does not include Kurds. Our friends have rolled up their sleeves and are working uninterruptedly to repair the damage left behind by the trustees who lived in pleasure and enjoyment. We all know very well that the politics of trustees is already bankrupt and that the trustees left nothing but bribery, corruption, favouritism and Kurdish hostility.”

Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit continued: “This coup d'état has been carried out against all democratic forces and the freedom to elect and be elected, which humanity won centuries ago with great struggles. The democratic public opinion should show its reaction to this issue at the highest level. From political parties to civil society, intellectuals and artists, everyone whose heart beats in favour of democracy should speak out against this unlawfulness. They should show that they stand by the will of the people of Hakkari. If we let them take back what they lost in the 31 March elections by means of trustees, it is not difficult to predict where the wave of attacks and usurpation that started in Hakkari will end up.”

Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit also shared some of the decisions taken at the MYK meeting, stating: “We will start vigil actions in front of all our municipalities to defend democracy, to defend the will of the people and to defend our municipalities against this trustee politics that has turned into an apparatus of the regime. We invite all our people, democratic mass organisations and everyone with a conscience to take part in these vigil actions and to be with us.

Our co-chair, Tülay Hatimoğulları, has a programme in Istanbul today. Tomorrow she will go to Hakkari. DBP Co-Chairs, Keskin Bayındır and Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar, have already left for Hakkari with a delegation. We expect them to reach Hakkari today. Apart from that, protests and events to express our democratic reactions are being organised by district organisations all over Turkey today.

A meeting will take place today at 18.00 in Şişhane, Istanbul, which will also be attended by our Co-Chair, Tülay Hatimoğlulları. I would like to call for the components of the Labour and Freedom Alliance and all democratic opposition to participate in this event. The foreign relations commission has also initiated work to denounce these unlawful acts in the international arena.”