Protests continue for a fourth day in Turkey against the usurpation of the DEM Party-governed municipalities of Batman, Mardin and Halfeti and the removal of the elected co-mayors by the Ministry of the Interior.

Batman: ‘Resistance is Life’

In Batman, many people are still on the streets shouting slogans such as ‘Trustees out of Kurdistan’ and ‘Resistance is life’. In the last few days, many people have been arrested, including children. The exact number is unknown, several people were overpowered on the street by masked men and taken away in civilian vehicles with fake license plates.

Among the demonstrators are the deposed co-mayors and MPs of the DEM Party. In a speech, MP Sümeyye Boz said the following: “Whenever the AKP/MHP government gets stuck and in trouble, it picks a fight with the Kurdish people. They attack the municipalities of the Kurdish people. They pursue a policy of special war against the Kurdish people and impose isolation. With the trustees they appoint, they ride roughshod over the will of the Kurdish people. The trustee policy has manifested itself first in Hakkari, then in Esenyurt and now in Batman, Urfa and Mardin. While the government has made a name for itself with plundering, thieving and oppression, the Kurdish people have made a name for themselves with democracy and struggle.”

Municipal Council meeting in Halfeti

In the Halfeti district of Urda, the deposed co-mayors Mehmet Karayılan and Saniye Bayram convened a Municipal Council meeting in front of the town hall where the DEM politicians no longer have access to. The mayors explained that they would not leave their mandate given by the people to a trustee.