Deposed mayor of Hakkari: The trustee system is a system of destruction

Hakkari Municipality co-mayor Cihan Karaman, who was replaced by a trustee, stated that the trustee system is a social, cultural and memory killing system.

HDP Hakkari Municipality co-mayor Cihan Karaman told ANF that the trustee system aims to erase the values ​​of a nation and its social memory.

Karaman was sent to prison two days after being taken into custody on 15 October 2019 and replaced by a state-appointed trustee. The trustee immediately started firing workers. He closed the Kurdish kindergarten within the municipality and stopped the municipality’s youth, women's and cultural work.

Hakkari has received a great number of migrants following the evacuation of villages and is the victim of unplanned urbanization with infrastructure problems. Karaman said that they had many projects for Hakkari and added that the trustee had caused a lot of damage since the first day they took office. Karaman said that they rolled up their sleeves to solve the infrastructure and water problems, but they were taken from office before they could bring it to a sufficient level.

Karaman said that the trustee system aims at erasing and making people forget its traditions, culture, history, art, language, and added that it is a social, cultural and memory slaughter system. “The trustees of Hakkari changed the names of parks, roads, streets and places, which remembered the city’s leaders, intellectuals, artists and writers, and replaced them with the names of Turkish personalities and historical events.”

Karaman said that the people of Hakkari saw how the resources that should be used for their own services were handed over to a handful of exploitation groups and added: “Our people are aware that the trustee system is a system of corruption, illegality and theft. The people of Hakkari know very well that the trustee system is a system that ignores the will of the people and focuses on donating the resources that should be used for the service of the people to their supporters. Municipalities were transformed into employment and money-giving venues for collaborators.”