DEM Party MPs protest the trustee coup in Parliament
DEM Party MPs are protesting the trustee coup in Parliament with slogans.
The Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) MPs protested against the usurpation of municipalities and appointment of trustees in the General Assembly of the Parliament. DEM Party members pounded on the desks and chanted slogans such as ‘Trustees will go, peoples will stay’ and ‘Trusteeship is a coup’.
As the protest continued, Parliamentary Deputy Speaker Gülizar Biçer Karaca of the CHP (Republican People’s Party) adjourned the session for 10 minutes. DEM Party members continued to protest during the session, which reopened after the recess. Upon the DEM Party members' insistence on their protest, the session was recessed again.
After the second recess, DEM Party members continued their protest.
Background
A total of eight municipalities have been usurped by the government this year.
The municipality of Hakkari was usurped by the government immediately after the local elections on 31 March.
Ahmet Özer, the CHP mayor of Esenyurt, the most populous district of Istanbul, was removed from office and imprisoned on 31 October. He was replaced by Istanbul Deputy Governor Can Aksoy.
The DEM Party municipalities of Batman, Mardin and Halfeti were usurped on 4 November.
On 22 November, the municipality of Dersim under the DEM Party and the municipality of Ovacık district under the CHP were usurped by the AKP-MHP regime by appointing trustees in the place of the democratically elected mayors who had been sentenced to prison two days ago. Dersim Co-Mayor Cevdet Konak and Ovacık Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül were sentenced to 6 years and 3 months imprisonment each in the lawsuit filed 10 years ago for alleged ‘membership in an illegal organisation’. On 30 November, Birsen Orhan, the deposed co-mayor of Dersim, was sent to prison after appearing in court.
On 29 November, the AKP-MHP regime usurped the municipality of Bahçesaray district in Van province after co-mayor Ayvaz Hazır was sentenced to 3 years and 11 months in prison for ‘committing crime on behalf of an illegal organisation without being a member of an illegal organisation’.
