Following the appointment of trustees to the municipalities of Batman, Mardin and Halfeti by the Ministry of Interior on 4 November and removal of the co-mayors elected in the 31 March local elections, protests continue in many cities of Kurdistan.

The Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) members of parliament protested in front of the Ministry of the Interior in Ankara against the removal from office of elected mayors and the appointment of trustees to the municipalities.

DEM Party Group Deputy Chairperson Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit stated that the AKP government has been carrying out a ‘coup’ against the will of the people since 2016 and has virtually abolished the right to elect and to be elected, especially for the Kurdish population.

At the last municipal elections on 31 March, the majority of the population showed the government the ‘red card’, said Koçyiğit and continued: “More than 70 percent of the country's population, including in the metropolitan cities, voted out the AKP government at the local level. The government was thus called upon to come to its senses, to return to democracy and the rule of law, and to respect the will of the people. In response to the threat of losing power, the AKP has once again resorted to the method of undermining the will of the electorate and appointing trustees, which has been in use since 2016. It started in Hakkari on 3 June, continued on 31 October in Esenyurt, and on 4 November, the anniversary of the 2016 coup against the HDP, the AKP woke us up with a new coup against the peoples of Turkey.”

Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit noted that they had already warned back in 2016 that the illegal removal of mayors from office would not be limited to Kurdistan: “In this country, every lawlessness is first tested in the Kurdish regions. All unlawful acts are first committed against the Kurdish people. But it should be known that the deprivation of rights of the Kurdish population is never limited to this region. Lawlessness spreads from there to all provinces and the whole country.”

The fact that no one in Turkey has taken to the streets to protest against the usurpation of Kurdish municipalities has led to the appointment of a trustee to the CHP-governed district of Esenyurt in Istanbul, said Koçyiğit and added: “Everyone must see this fact. Lawlessness is being practised against all the peoples of Turkey. It is a coup d'état against democracy in Turkey and a threat to us all.”

Appealing to the opposition, Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit stated: “Today we must stand side by side against this government, unite and defend democracy together. On the one hand, they say peace, on the other hand, they appoint trustees. The road to peace does not go through trusteeship. If all the peoples of Turkey stand side by side, if we build bridges of fraternity from Esenyurt to Hakkari, then we will defeat this ruling power, this fascism, and build a democratic republic in this country despite the AKP. Let us stand side by side, let us smash fascism hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder. Let us create the peace that the peoples of Turkey long for. Let us find a way to live together in an equal, free and democratic country.”