Abdülkadir Çelik, trustee appointed in the place of the HDP’s deposed mayors Yakup Almaç and Dilan Örenci, who had won the 31 March elections with 70 percent of the vote in Van’s Özalp district, has today dismissed 28 workers.

The 28 workers of the municipality, who had been employed by the deposed co-mayors, have been dismissed on the grounds that they were “not needed”. Reports say that the dismissed municipal workers will be replaced by names determined by AKP Özalp district organization.

The dismissed workers said that the trustee had wanted to fire them on 19 March but changed his mind in the face of strong reactions and the newly emerging coronavirus cases. They said they have been dismissed motivelessly today amid the growing pandemic crisis.