Protests continued in Van province for the sixth day against the AKP regime’s seizure of metropolitan municipalities of Amed, Mardin and Van that were won by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in the local elections of March 31.

Despite the siege and obstructions by the police, HDP MPs and administrators and co-mayors of Van made a statement to the press at Dabbaoğlu Park today.

Speaking here, Co-mayor Bedia Özgökçe Ertan, who was replaced by a trustee appointed by the government, said that this was a political coup against the people’s right to vote.

“We have been elected to represent the will of the people. The people of Van, Diyarbakır and Mardin went to the polls and voted for the HDP, saying “No” against trustees.

Referring to the 2,5 years of the trustee administration that ended on March 31 when HDP received the majority of votes in the three cities, Özgökçe said; “We took over the municipalities with a debt of 1.2 billion TL. What we have witnessed during the 4 months after we re-won the municipalities is only corruption, irregularity and injustice. We reported these to the prosecutor’s offices. The people will continue to call those responsible to account on legal basis.”

Remarking that trustees provided unearned income for some certain circles, Özgökçe continued; “It is a crime to buy a dinner set of 48 thousand TL, to make 3 tenders worth 2 million TL, 3 million and 5 million TL of direct supply on the same day. We have been exposing all these. The destruction caused by the trustees is much greater than what we can tell.”

Ertan ended her speech by calling for respect for the will of the people.