The protests in front of the usurped Batman Municipality continue on the second day. Politician Ayla Akat Ata and members of the Feminist Women's Group also participated in today's protest.

Atlı: There can be no peace without equality, democracy and freedom

Berfin Atlı from the Feminist Women's Movement said, “We see that the streets in Batman are besieged as if there is a war. This is what a trustee is. AKP government said that these practices will continue.”

Berfin Atlı emphasised that the trustees do not recognise the right to elect and be elected and said, “It means the exclusion of women from the public sphere. It means closing the mechanisms that women can resort to in case of violence. It means closure of institutions working on women's poverty. It means targeting the Jinkart (women’s card) application.”

Berfin Atlı added: “Batman is the place where women overwhelmingly buried this mentality in the ballot box against the brazen remark that ‘we will give women the freedom to choose the colour of their burqa’. Today, women, young people, old people, everyone is defending their will against the trustee. They do not submit to the trustee imposition. We know that there can be no peace without equality, democracy and freedom. We are in favour of peace today as we were yesterday.”

Ata: We stand for a democratic, ecological, women's libertarian local government

Ayla Akat Ata, a member of the Initiative for Justice against Isolation, pointed to the discussions on the ‘new process’ and reacted to the blockade around the municipality. Ayla Akat Ata stated, “We stand for democratic, ecological, women's libertarian local government. With a woman co-mayor who won a record vote in Batman, this idea has lived and will live on. Behind this idea is the tradition of Edip Solmaz, who said ‘no’ to the current system before the 1980 coup. Behind this idea is the reality and labour of our citizens who were victims of unidentified murders in the 1990s. There is the reality of a people who have been saying ‘I exist’ since 1999. We existed yesterday, we exist today, and we will exist tomorrow. Therefore, these fences cannot be a barrier in front of the democratic, ecological, women's libertarian idea. This people will destroy and crush these barriers with their votes every time they go to the polls. This has happened 3 times. Don't worry, these barriers will be destroyed for the 4th time too. This people will make these barriers meaningless.”

Pointing to the women's struggle for freedom, Ayla Akat Ata said,”We express once again that this struggle can never be ignored or stopped by extermination, denial and assimilation. Mayor Gülistan is the will of all of us, the will of the people of Batman. Your trustee symbolises power, interest and plunder. But our co-mayors symbolise people's municipalism, being the people.”

Ok: We are not silent or afraid

Socialist Women's Assemblies (SKM) Central Executive Committee (MYK) member Satiye Ok said, “For 8 years, the AKP-MHP fascist government has been trying to rule Kurdistan with trustees. As women who raise the resistance, as women who do not surrender, we express that we are not silent or afraid against the trustee politics. We will resist on the streets and send the trustee away.”

Tuncel: It is not possible to talk about freedom, democracy and peace in such an environment

Politician Sabahat Tuncel reminded the political coup on 4 November 2016 when the co-chairs and a number of deputies of the HDP were detained in simultaneous operations and eventually imprisoned. Tuncel said: “The state mind does not change. What they did is not based on a legal article. These are stories. There is only one law applied to Kurds. That is the colonial law. We reject this. We are told, ‘Give up your identity, your language. Come and obey us. Do not demand your rights. Live within the borders we give you'. We have not accepted it until today and we will not accept it from now on. It is cultural genocide imposed on our people through the municipalities.”

Pointing to current developments, Sababat Tuncel stated, ‘Those in Ankara are talking. They are trying to draw a future for us from where they stand. They say that Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan should come and speak in the Parliament. Then they put trustees in charge. In his meeting with Ömer Öcalan, Mr Öcalan said, ‘Isolation continues. If conditions arise, I have the power to bring the conflict process to a political and legal ground'. This is already known, but the government still insists on the İmralı torture regime. On the one hand it continues the isolation, on the other hand it appoints trustees. It is not possible to talk about freedom, democracy and peace in such an environment. But this does not mean that we will not insist on freedom and peace. We have been struggling for this for years.”

Sabahat Tuncel continued: “Kurds elect co-mayors and try to serve the people. Those in power are usurping the will of this people, usurping the will of each of us. We cannot accept it. If we accepted it, we would give up our humanity. We say this to those who rule this country; your trustee policies are rotting you, not us. We will resist, but the government is losing and will continue to lose because of these policies. Those who appoint trustees will lose, those who resist against the trustees will win.”

Türkoğlu: We will destroy the barricades of trustees together

DEM Party Women's Assembly Spokesperson Halide Türkoğlu said, “They want to build a one-man regime that denies the people and women. This regime takes its spirit from the trustees. The spirit of fascism is the spirit of trustee. Where there is resistance of the people, no barricade can stand in front of us. We will destroy the barricades of trustees together. They think that we will give up the struggle when they appoint trustees. The struggling Kurdish people have never given up despite all kinds of pressure. On the contrary, their ideology has grown even more. This idea is the idea of a democratic solution.”

Sönük: We will not stop the struggle on the streets

Co-Mayor Gülistan Sönük, whose office was usurped, said, “They appointed trustees to the walls. But they cannot take us out of these streets and squares. We will never leave these areas. We will not allow those who do not recognise Kurds to come out on these streets. They are surrounded by hundreds of police officers and hid behind those walls. As long as this decision is not reversed, we will not stop the struggle on the streets.”

The resistance in front of the municipality continues.