* Photo: Mezopotamya Agency - Güroymak Municipality
Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish
The Ministry of Interior has appointed trustees to Batman Municipality; Diyarbakır's District Municipalities of Ergani, Eğil, Lice, Silvan; Iğdır's District Municipality of Halfeli; and Siirt's District Municipality of Gökçebağ.
The appointment of trustees to the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) municipalities in eastern Turkey has been announced by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) on Twitter late in the evening yesterday (March 23).
"The Ministry of Interior has dismissed Mayors of Batman, Ergani, Eğil, Lice, Silvan, Güroymak, Halfeli, Gökçebağ and made new appointments", the agency has announced on its Twitter account.
Co-Mayors detained earlier yesterday
In a statement earlier in the day, HDP said, "Our municipality buildings in Silvan, Ergani, Lice, Eğil and Batman have been blockaded and started to be searched. In operations conducted to houses, our Batman Co-Mayors Mehmet Demir and Songül Korkmaz, Silvan Co-Mayor Naşide Toprak, Ergani Co-Mayor Ahmet Kaya, Eğil Co-Mayor Mustafa Akkul, dismissed Yenişehir Co-Mayor Belgin Diken, Batman Vice Co-Mayors Şehriban Aydın and Salih Çetinkaya, Batman Municipal Assembly Co-Spokespersons Şükran Çelebi and Recep Yargı have been detained."
Sancar: No official notice
HDP Co-Chair Mithat Sancar also said, "No official statement has been made by the Ministry of Interior yet. Moreover, no official notices have been delivered to our co-mayors, either. No information has been shared with the public by official sources regarding the nature of this operations.
"However, taking the past experiences into consideration, it is understood that it is a trustee operation. We hope that the government will not implement trustee practice under such circumstances."
CLICK - HDP Co-Mayors Taken into Custody
Trustees to 38 of HDP's 65 municipalities
In the last local elections on March 31, 2019, the HDP won 65 municipalities: 3 metropolitan, 5 provincial, 45 district and 12 town municipalities.
The certificates of election of HDP's 6 elected co-mayors were given to ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidates because the former had been discharged from public service by Statutory Decrees.
With the latest appointment of trustees, the co-mayors of HDP's 3 metropolitan, 2 provincial, 31 district and 2 town municipalities in total have been replaced with state-appointed trustees.
The HDP's elected co-mayor are now only in office in 22 of 65 municipalities. (EKN/SD)
* Source: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)
