DEM Party co-chair Hatimoğulları: ‘Internal peace impossible with trustees’

The pro-Kurdish DEM Party leadership joined the crowd in front of the Batman Municipality in eastern Turkey to protest the ousting of their democratically elected mayor Gülistan Sönük. The Turkish government on Nov. 4 appointed trustees to three DEM-led municipalities.

Monday November 04 2024 03:07 pm

Batman co-mayor Gülistan Sönük stands in front of police barricades at the municipal building as DEM Party convenes to protest trustees.

Duvar English

Protesters on Nov. 4 gathered against the appointment of a trustee to Batman Municipality in eastern Turkey, which was previously managed by the Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party.

Batman co-mayor Gülistan Sönük, who was replaced by the trustee, met with DEM Party co-chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan, as well as the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP) co-chair Keskin Bayındır, at the Batman Provincial Organization building. Party members then marched from there to the municipality.

DEM Party co-chairs and Batman's ousted co-mayors hold a press statement in front of the municipality building.

In her statement, Hatimoğulları drew attention to the timing of the trustee appointments, noting that former HDP co-chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş were arrested on Nov. 4, 2016.

"The fact that they are carrying out another coup on this anniversary is undoubtedly a message to democratic politics. We received that message.”

The co-chair also stated that the trustee appointments discredited all the talks about peace that had dominated the political scene for the past month. “They came, shook hands, and said, 'We will ensure domestic peace.' But they have no concern for peace. We said we were ready for an honorable peace. But what did they do? They appointed trustees to Esenyurt first, and now to Mardin, Batman, and Halfeti.”

“Those who think they can subdue us with these coups should know from past experiences that we reclaimed trustee-appointed municipalities," she continued.

Batman co-mayor Gülistan Sönük also spoke at the scene. "Halfeti, Mardin, and Batman (districts) were unlawfully seized. This municipality is the labor of the people, the labor of our 40-year-old party, the labor of the children of this community. Its seizure is unacceptable.”

Sönük added, “Let the occupiers know that seizing the will of the people and women is not easy. We will not bow down.”

“We will no longer let you ignore our will. We will not let you exploit the future of our youth and women. As long as this unlawful decision is not reversed and the municipality is not returned to public service, we will not step back,” she said.

DEM Party co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan referred to the government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli’s handshake in parliament and said, “These plotters, thieves, and those planning purges reached out to us. We extended our hand too, thinking they might negotiate; that they would make an honorable peace with the Kurdish people whom they could not defeat through purges, denial, and oppression for years.”

Bakırhan expressed determination to reclaim the municipalities, saying, “Because you are deniers, profiteers. You are an administration that reaches out one hand while denying with the other, losing legitimacy. One day, we will turn you into a fringe party in these lands. We will make it so that you cannot even put up your signs.”

“This people will not bow to you,” Bakırhan continued. “These people know well what you have done in these municipal buildings. You are thieves. You tamper with the language and culture of the Kurdish people.”

He promised that the party would continue the struggle until the will of Batman’s people was restored.

The public continued their vigil in front of the municipality.

DEM Party’s local organization in the eastern Van province held a mass press statement together with the Van Labor and Democracy Platform, the Free Women’s Movement (TJA), and the DBP to protest the trustee appointments.

Protesters hold posters reading, "No to trustees and fascism, recognize the public will," during the sit-in protest in Van province.

Van co-mayors Neslihan Şedal and Abdullah Zeydan attended the statement, who themselves went through a trustee appointment attempt shortly after the 2024 local elections.

A sit-in protest followed the press statement. Police intervened as protesters tried to march on the central Cumhuriyet Street. However, police surrounded the area on all sides and did not allow the group to leave.

When negotiations failed to yield results, the sit-in protest ended with chants and applause. Protesters objected to the controlled and limited exits permitted by the police. This was followed by an intervention involving tear gas and plastic bullets. Police detained four people during the altercation.

The Turkish Interior Ministry on Nov. 4 announced the appointment of trustees to the Mardin Metropolitan Municipality, Batman Municipality, and Şanlıurfa's Halfeti District Municipality run by DEM Party as there were convictions and ongoing cases against their mayors for "membership in an armed terrorist organization."

(English version by Ayşenaz Toptaş)