Gov't-appointed trustee removes Kurdish from municipal website in Turkey's southeast

Duvar English

A government-appointed trustee in the southeastern province of Batman has removed Kurdish from the municipality's website.

Trustees were appointed to eight Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) municipalities last week, including Batman.

One of the first actions of the trustee was to remove Kurdish from the municipality's website, a move that trustees often make in the Kurdish-majority southeast.

The municipality website, which now serves only in Turkish, said that the Kurdish section is "in the construction phase."

Meanwhile, ousted co-mayor Mehmet Demir said that the trustee resumed construction in buildings that were ruled to be demolished due to being unsafe.

"The fact that the trustee started construction in the buildings that will turn into graveyards in the future due to being unsafe as soon as we were detained shows the scale of damage he will create," Demir said on Twitter, while questioning whether a deal was reached between the trustee and the contractors of the buildings in question.

"I'm leaving the fact that the trustee began construction in the unlicensed buildings as soon as we were removed from our jobs for the people of Batman to judge. What did the contractors and the trustee agree on?" he also said.

With last week's appointments, the number of trustees appointed to HDP municipalities reached 40.

The HDP won 65 municipalities in the March 31, 2019 local elections, including three metropolitan municipalities, five provinces, 45 districts and 12 towns. Trustees were appointed to three metropolitan municipalities, one province, 32 district and four towns.