The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) mayors who were replaced by state-appointed trustees have been working in the party’s Crisis Coordination centres set up in the areas hit by the earthquake. One of these mayors is Davut Kesen, who was elected by the people to co-lead the Kayapınar Municipality. He, like dozens of other mayors, has been replaced by a trustee.

Kesen Davut Kesen has been helping the victims of the earthquake since the beginning. He spoke to ANF about the current situation in Maraş and the HDP aid efforts.

There is no state to help people

Davut Kesen said that when they arrived to help, immediately after the earthquake, they were faced with the absence of the state. “The people first, and then the HDP have been helping the victims. We saw neither trustees nor municipality officials. People can’t get back to their houses that have been heavily damaged. That's why we immediately looked for tents. We have a lot of experience due to the fact that our region is subjected to earthquakes. Big and small aid come to the region from every village. It is important to collect the aid in one center in order to better meet the needs of the victims.”

The government showed its racist mentality once again

Pointing out that the state does not exist anywhere except in the center of Maraş, Kesen said: “There have been trustees since 2006. But in 2019, the HDP won in most of the region and what has been done? Five months after the elections, trustees were appointed to most of our municipalities, except for 6 districts and towns. Today is the 8th day of the earthquake and it seems that AFAD tents have just started to arrive. The mentality and racist behavior of the current government showed itself once again in the region. One cannot even find words. This racist mentality showed itself in Hatay, Maraş, Malatya, Adıyaman and in Diyarbakır. The state gave some help in the center of Maraş and that was it.”

Pointing out that while the main duty of the municipalities is to support people, Kesen underlined that neither the trustees nor the AKP and MHP municipalities provided any support to the people in the field. “We are in Maraş right now. Although Maraş Municipality is in the hands of the AKP, the mayor himself has not even come to meet the victims. While he should have mobilized everything in his power here, he did not.”

Kesen said: “Our Silopi friends are mobilized in Pazarcık with their means. We also set up a soup kitchen here. Same in Malatya. We serve three meals a day here. As HDP people, we got organized based on our previous experiences.”

'We won’t leave our people alone'

Kesen continued: “We will continue to help our people and we will mobilize all our resources. All of our mayors who have been replaced by trustees work in the field. If our municipalities had not been taken from us, maybe we would not have lost many lives in this way. At the very least, we would have made significant efforts to avoid all these casualties."