HDP Province Co-chair said, “These are statements geared towards demoralizing the people.”

In the March 30, 2014 municipal elections, AKP lost to BDP in a landslide and the BDP took 12 out of the 14 municipalities in the province.

But the municipalities were usurped through invaders just two years after the elections, and the AKP is once again started to disseminate lies and threats for the elections to be held next year.

AKP is planning to nominate several of the trustees for the municipal elections in Van, and former AKP MPs have started campaigning in neighborhoods and villages.

AKP Van Chairperson Kayhan Turkmenoglu spoke to their supporters in the Ercek district last week and said, “The votes that go to the HDP will be wasted. If the HDP wins, trustees will be appointed once again. So, vote for us, not the HDP, and we can serve you with the advantage we hold in the government.”

DECISIONS MADE IN THE PALACE

After Turkmenoglu’s speech, former AKP Van MP Burhan Kayaturk attended an event in the Kasimoglu village in the Tusba district and gave a speech.

Kayaturk admitted that HDP will win municipalities throughout the region again in the elections, and added that even Tusba and Gevas Municipalities that the AKP has now will go to the HDP: “But in a meeting we held in the Palace, we made some decisions. As such, a maximum of one month after the elections, trustees will be appointed to HDP municipalities. So don’t waste your votes. The votes that go to the HDP will be wasted. Everybody should vote for the AKP in these elections.”

TO DEMORALIZE THE PEOPLE

HDP Van Provincial Deputy Co-chair Azim Yacan said the AKP has previously threatened the people with the white Toros, an icon of the ‘90s, state brutality and forced disappearances in custody, and added: “Even if they appoint a thousand trustees, our people will again vote for the HDP.

These are statements meant to demoralize our people and rob them of hope. We believe that our people will once again respond to them at the ballots.”