The water supply has been interrupted for three days in the Kurdish city of Batman, the municipality of which was usurped by the government through the appointment of a trustee to replace the HDP’s deposed mayor.

This makes it practically impossible for many people to comply with hygiene precautions in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. In some neighborhoods, water still comes out of the tap, at least sporadically.

The deposed co-mayors, Mehmet Demir and Songül Korkmaz, protested against this interruption and demanded an immediate solution to the problem. Especially the people who live in houses that do not have their own water tank are in great difficulties, they said.

A statement published on the website of the usurped municipality on Friday accused the people of “overuse” of water, arguing that interruption of water supply under the current conditions was “inevitable”.