The resistance against the usurpation of the will of Abdullah Zeydan, who was elected the co-mayor of Van Metropolitan Municipality has spread throughout the city. People lit fires on streets and avenues and blocked roads to traffic.
People of Van took to the streets on Tuesday in protest at the usurpation of newly elected DEM Party co-mayor Abdullah Zeydan’s right to be elected on the "instruction" of the AKP government.
The protests began in the Cumhuriyet and Maraş avenues in the city center and spread throughout the city. Hundreds of people set up barricades in the side streets and fires were lit at some points. All shopkeepers closed their shutters.
The police attacked the protesters with gas bombs and water cannons, facing a response with stones. Many people were injured as a result of the attacks.
According to reports from the ground, the police entered the DEM Party Van Provincial Organisation building and threw gas bombs.
The Central Executive Board of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) announced earlier today that Abdullah Zeydan had been denied office and replaced by the candidate of the AKP, which received only 27 % of the vote, while the DEM Party received 55%.
“Merely five minutes before the close of business on Friday, March 29, 2024, and a mere two days before the election, the Ministry of Justice, via an administrative decision and correspondence, contested the legal credentials of Mr, Zeydan, who had been restored his full civil rights by a court decision when released from prison in 2022. Following Friday’s administrative decision and objection letter, which was essentially a directive, the authorized prosecutor's office resubmitted the matter to the court that had issued the decision to restore his civil rights two years ago. That same day, the court revoked their own previous decision and dismissed Mr Zeydan’s civil rights application; and they pre-emptively informed the YSK prior to the formalisation of their new reversed decision, thus curtailing the right to object and appeal. The very court that had initially ruled in favor of restoring the civil rights of our Co-Mayor, Mr. Abdullah Zeydan, reversed its decision. This manoeuvre reflects a mentality that disregards the mandate of the people. Mr. Zeydan rightfully holds the position of Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor, as bestowed upon him by the people of Van,” the DEM Party said.
