A press conference was held at the Democratic Regions' Party (DBP) Headquarters in Amed city with the participation of DBP co-chair Sebahat Tuncel, Amed Metropolitan Municipality co-mayors Gültan Kışanak and Fırat Anlı, Democratic Municipalities' Union co-president Tuncer Bakırhan, DBP deputy co-chair in charge of Local Administrations Emine Özmen.

Speaking here, DBP co-chair Sebahat Tuncel called attention to the AKP's systematic violence against the DBP, ongoing arrest of numerous co-mayors and the practices depriving their officials of their right to life. Tuncel recalled that 2 members of the DBP Party Assembly have been murdered recently, while there is still no information about the aftermath of DBP Şırnak executive Hurşit Külter who was detained on May 27.

'THEY CAN FIND CORRUPTION IN İSTANBUL AND ANKARA'

In her speech, Tuncel stated that municipalities of the "system parties" in Kurdistan’s cities never served the people of Kurdistan, but the DBP-held municipalities implemented significant projects in Amed and other cities. Tuncel said that the AKP government and Erdoğan are now targeting these municipalities because of their service to the people, and make statements such as "We sent them all this money, what do they do with it?" She noted that all this money is used to serve people, and state inspectors have been doing everything they could to find an irregularity in the workings of municipalities in Kurdish cities but have not found any such thing so far. Tuncel said that the same inspectors would find many cases of corruption if they went to İstanbul and Ankara.

'WE WILL NEVER ALLOW IT'

Tuncel stated that the AKP was targeting the services offered to people and trying to seize municipalities through its fascist policies. In response to accusations regarding the spending of funds sent by the state, Tuncel said that “the money is not your offering and it belongs to the people. They are now trying to seize the municipalities, this used to happen during the times of military intervention. We will never allow them to seize our municipalities."

Tuncel described the AKP’s attempt to seize municipalities as part of the government’s plan to cripple the Kurdish people, and recalled that 20 co-mayors, 11 of whom are women, have been arrested and 30 co-mayors have been removed from their office. Tuncel emphasized that they would not give up on their demands for autonomy, and the remaining co-mayors will gather on June 25 and carry out meetings with civilians and NGO groups in order to evaluate their options.

'COME, LET US RESIST TOGETHER'

Tuncel described the resistance against war policies as their eternal duty, and said that; “We are warning the President and the ministers. We are going to put up our democratic resistance. I call upon all forces of democracy and socialism in Turkey to stand against this fascist approach." Tuncel noted that the HDP would resist the process of seizing municipalities and imprisoning parliamentarians, and called upon other political parties to break their silence on the issue.

Lastly, Tuncel emphasized that the state was targeting the will of the people because the co-mayors were elected by the people, and reiterated their call to people in western Turkey to come and resist against the warmongering mentality of the AKP government.