Protests continue in Hakkari against the detention of Co-Mayor Mehmet Sıddık Akış and the usurpation of his office by a trustee appointed by the Ministry of Interior.

Speaking during the protest demonstration in the city today, DBP Co-Chair Keskin Bayindir said, “A trustee was appointed once again to the will of the people. We do not accept this appointment. This system will collapse thanks to the resistance of the Kurdish people. The will of the Kurds has not been recognised for a hundred years. Even today Bahçeli said that he would not recognise the will of the Kurdish people. They should look at the history of the Kurds; Bahçeli and Erdoğan will leave, but the Kurds will be here again as they have been for centuries. We will defeat their system with our will and power. Their oppression will surely come to an end. Because their end has come. There can be no peace for Turkey as long as there is war against the Kurds. As long as their policies here continue, there will be no peace there either. We will resist to put an end to these plunderers.”

Tülay Hatimoğulları said that a political coup is taking place and said: “Our co-mayor was detained in Van and a trustee was unofficially appointed in his place. First the trustee was appointed, then the law enforcement surrounded the municipality. The Minister of Interior sent the notificiation later. This is an indication that a gang is running the state. Dear people of Turkey; they mislead you and make various statements. Our co-mayor was taken into custody to be tried over a lawsuit filed against him in 2014. They kept the case file until he became co-mayor.  The legal procedure is as follows; the investigation is opened first, and then the process is followed. The mayor cannot be dismissed from office until the final decision, that is, until all legal processes are completed and the final judgement is announced. As a result, if the mayor is convicted, a new mayor is elected from the city council. However, the police took control of the municipality even before the official notification of the trustee arrived, without fulfilling all these steps. This is the AKP’s way of governing this country. This is called fascism, coup d’état.”

Tülay Hatimoğulları stated that Kurds are denied the right to elect and be elected and continued, “By appointing trustees, the AKP government is saying ’You do not have the right to elect and be elected. You are not a full citizen of this country’. Today Bahçeli came out and talked about the DEM Party. He congratulated the Interior Minister. He congratulated the gangs, those like him. We never accept this. We reject gang law. Democracy will win in this country, the people will win, law will win, freedoms will win. We will win. The people will win. Appointing a trustee to Hakkari today does not only mean appointing a trustee to the political will of the Kurds. It also means that a trustee has been appointed to Turkey’s democracy and the law on local governments. Against this trustee mentality, all democratic forces should manifest the most powerful attitude together.”

Hatimoğulları pointed out that the AKP appointed a trustee in order to loot the resources of the municipality for their cronies and said, “We will resist. We will resist against the trustee mentality together with all the people of Turkey, with those who are oppressed and exploited in Turkey, with those who want justice, with those who want Turkey to be governed in a democratic way. He should not think that he and his partner sitting in the palace csn usurp the will of the Kurdish people from the palace. They tried to steal the Hilvan elections from us by burning ballot boxes with gang-like methods. They cancelled the elections even though we won. The difference increased from 500 to 3 thousand. What does this mean? It means that if you try to usurp the will of the people, the people will respond to you in the strongest way. Those who resist fascism shoulder to shoulder will win.”