Saray Mayor co-mayor, Caziye Duman, had been elected with 70 percent of the votes but was dismissed by the government. She said that the government, unable to get results with military operations, attacked the people's will in a different way.
The HDP won 10 municipalities in the province of Van in the local elections on 31 March 2019.
The AKP government seized the municipalities of Edremit, Tusba and Çaldıran municipalities using the emergency decree to dismiss the elected representatives. Then, on 19 August 2019, it seized the Van Metropolitan municipality and 6 other HDP-run district municipalities.
One of the municipalities seized was Saray. Co-mayor, Caziye Duman, had won 70 percent of the votes. She was dismissed with what she called "a new method devised by the dictatorial regime."
Duman added: "In municipalities seized by the trustees at the moment what we see is the waste of people's earnings, excessive borrowing, corruption, unjust tenders, exploitation."
Emphasizing that even staff recruitment is made from outside, and especially military personnel are brought to the directorates, Duman added: "Thus, they aim to break the will of the people.
Instead of creating a democratic society they want a society scared, oppressed and silenced by dictatorial methods. Looking at the current situation of the municipalities run by trustees, all we see is corruption and a growing debt."
