Using the State of Emergency as an excuse, the Palace regime targeted DBP’s municipalities they couldn’t win in elections and appointed direct trustees to 36 of 103 DBP municipalities, and indirect trustees to 15 more.

These municipalities had implemented several projects and practices on top of their primary duties.

In the local elections held on March 30, 2014, the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), under the name Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) at the time, had received 6.36% of the vote nationwide and won 103 municipalities including 3 metropolitan and 8 provincial municipalities. These municipalities are being usurped one by one with the government’s game of trustees. The elections were won with the motto, “Free Identity Through Self Government”, and could be considered a referendum due to the timing. The elections paved the way for AKP to be a non-party in Kurdistan. In the process that started with trustee appointments to 24 DBP municipalities on September 11, a total of 36 municipalities have had trustees appointed and a further 15 have been stripped of all their authority, the duties transferred to district governorates, and a de facto trustee system has been implemented. 47 co-mayors have been arrested and imprisoned. As of now, Urfa’s Halfeti district co-mayor Mustafa Bayram, Yüksekova Co-mayor Adile Kozay, Çukurca co-mayors Hilal Duman and Servet Tunç and Şemdinli co-mayors Nahide Yıldız and Seferi Yılmaz are held in police custody.

ALL SECTIONS OF SOCIETY WERE INCLUDED

The sphere of influence of DBP municipalities that brought forth an important result for the implementation of the democratic autonomy paradigm also paved the way for the Kurdish political movement’s political theses to be reflected in life. DBP municipalities set off as the only democratic option against the status quo defending, profiteering, authoritarian political parties and acted as an umbrella for all democratic civil society, including Alevi organizations, environmental and ecologist movements, intellectuals and workers and the youth movement. The wide array of co-mayors reflected this as well. For example, Mardin Metropolitan Municipality Co-mayor Februniye Akyol led the local administration with her Assyrian identity. Also in DBP municipalities, many Alevi, Arab, Armenian, Turkish human rights defenders, lawyers and artists upheld their duties as co-mayors, council members and provincial council members.

CULTURE AND ARTS MET WITH THE PEOPLE

The municipalities were also the foundations for culture and arts to come together with the people according to the specificities of every locality. In cultural institutions that were people-oriented and served for free, thousands of people got educated in areas like music, theater, cinema, painting and crafts. Especially the trustee-appointed metropolitan municipalities of Diyarbakır, Van and Mardin made significant investments in this area. The conservatories and academies founded by the municipalities put out work that will rival the arts faculties in universities. With film and theater festivals held every year, the people came together with revolutionary art. In Diyarbakır, Batman and Van, the city theaters put out countless plays in Kurdish.

WOMEN ORGANIZED

DBP had a first in history and implemented a co-mayor system, and thus ensured equal representation. Decisions were taken together with the people, under the leadership of the co-mayors and city council members. All steps taken and all services were first taken to the people. Almost all DBP municipalities founded women’s policies departments, and all acted with a gender emancipatory paradigm. Many projects were implemented to end violence and discrimination against women, to develop protective measures, and to empower women in the economic, social, cultural and medical areas. Workshops were founded to develop vocational skills and education. Psychologists served the women who needed support or who suffered from violence in the violence against women units. But, the trustees shut down these departments as soon as they took office. The women’s departments in Sur, Erciş, Edremit, İpekyolu, Özalp, Cizre, Silopi, Mazıdağı, Derik and Suruç municipalities have been shut down to date, all efforts halted and female employees were reappointed to passive positions. Tens of thousands of women using these facilities have been abandoned.

PEOPLE-ORIENTED PROJECTS IMPLEMENTED

The municipalities implemented innovative projects on top of their primary duties of infrastructure, cleaning, transportation, etc. For example, Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality implemented a 300-acre plot for agricultural production to prevent seasonal migration. 60 families took advantage of this plot. In a project implemented by the Women’s Policies Department, Strenghtening Local Economy Department and Amed Ecology Assembly, the people without land started agricultural production with organic seeds. The proceeds from this went back to the people. Van Metropolitan Municipality implemented a garlic production project as part of the rural development efforts and started producing 40 tonnes of garlic on 330 decares of land in 13 districts of the city. Dozens of families who were given these plots are making their living out of this.

TRUSTEE APPOINTED MUNICIPALITIES

The 36 trustee-appointed municipalities and the vote percentages are as follows:

Batman (55.89%), Hakkari (66.83%), Diyadin (48.43%), Beşiri (50.45%), Gercüş (52.43%), Silvan (69.55%), Sur (54.41%), Hınıs (39.08%), Tuzluca (51.67%), Dargeçit (60.16%), Derik (64.4%), Mazıdağ (61.71%), Nusaybin (78.78%), Bulanık (45.84%), Eruh (52.37%), Suruç (52.58%), Cizre (81.61%), Silopi (78.19%), İdil (78.9%), Edremit (50.91%), Erciş (49.43%), İpekyolu (48.32%), Özalp, İkiköprü (56.22%), Hoşhaber (61.75%), Hani (45.8%), Diyarbakır Metropolitan (55.32%), Şırnak (60.91%), Varto (63.40%), Ovakışla (35.12%), Siirt (49.4%), Mardin Metropolitan (52.2%), Van Metropolitan (53.1%), Dersim (42.4%), Bitlis (43.9%), Malazgirt (39.3%)

DE FACTO TRUSTEE APPOINTED MUNICIPALITIES

On top of the trustee seizures, many municipalities have been de facto co-opted. Governorates have used the State of Emergency as an excuse and handed all property, service, construction works and tenders related to hem and all employee hires to district governorate approval. With this method, 15 DBP municipalities have had their authority transferred to district governorates. These municipalities are: Viranşehir, Bozova, Yüksekova, Bismil, Çınar, Dicle, Eğil, Ergani, Hazro, Kayapınar, Kocaköy, Kulp, Lice, Yenişehir and Bağlar.

ARRESTED CO-MAYORS

50 co-mayors have been removed from duty up to date. 45 have been arrested and 7 have arrest warrants issued on them. The co-mayors of Halfeti, Çukurca, Yüksekova and Şemdinli are under police custody still. The arrested co-mayors are as follows:

CO-MAYORS IN JAIL

50 co-mayors have been removed so far, 45 were jailed and an arrest warrant has been issued for 7 others. The co-mayors of Halfeti, Çukurca, Yüksekova and Şemdinli remain in custody.

The Co-mayors currently in jail are:

1- Bekir Kaya - Van Metropolitan Municipality Co-mayor

2- Dilek Hatipoğlu - Hakkari Municipality Co-mayor

3- Nurullah Çiftçi – Hakkari Municipality Co-mayor

4- Nazmi Çoşkun - Hakkari Municipality Deputy Co-mayor

5- Handan Bağcı - Van's Özalp District Municipality Co-mayor

6- Şerafettin Özalp - Van's Özalp District Municipality Co-mayor

7- Ali Çam - Iğdır's Hoşhaber Town Municipality Co-mayor

8- Kasım Ağgün - Iğdır's Hoşhaber Town Municipality Co-mayor

9- Diba Keskin - Van's Erciş District Municipality Co-mayor

10- Abdurrahman Çağan - Van's Erciş District Municipality Co-mayor

11- Rahmi Çelik – Muş' Bulanık District Municipality Co-mayor

12- Figen Yaşar - Muş' Bulanık District Municipality Co-mayor

13- Burhan Kocaman - Elazığ's Karakoçan District Municipality Co-mayor

14- Cennet Ayık - Elazığ's Karakoçan District Municipality Co-mayor

15- Zeynep Şimşik – Mardin's Dargeçit District Municipality Co-mayor

16- Seyran Argan – Şırnak's Beytüşşebap District Municipality Co-mayor

17- Abdulkerim Erdem - Mardin's Derik District Municipality Co-mayor

18 - Sabahat Çetinkaya - Mardin's Derik District Municipality Co-mayor

19 - Hazal Aras – Ağrı's Diyadin District Municipality Co-mayor

20 - Aygün Taşkın – Amed's Ergani District Municipality Co-mayor

21- Nevin Oyman – Şırnak's İdil District Municipality Co-mayor

22 - Mehmet Muhdi Aslan - Şırnak's İdil District Municipality Co-mayor

23 - Tülay Karaca - Erzurum's Tekman District Municipality Co-mayor

24 - Abdurahman Zorlu – Amed's Hani District Municipality Co-mayor

25 - Zilan Aldatmaz - Van's Saray District Municipality Co-mayor

26 - Gültan Kışanak - Amed Metropolitan Municipality Co-mayor

27 - Fırat Anlı - Amed Metropolitan Municipality Co-mayor

28 - Suna Atabay - Van's Çaldıran District Municipality Co-mayor

29 - Ahmet Demir – Bitlis' Ovakışla Town Municipality Co-mayor

30 - Servin Karakoç - Bitlis' Ovakışla Town Municipality Co-mayor

31 - Sabite Ekinci – Muş's Varto District Municipality Co-mayor

32 - Hüseyin Güneş - Muş's Varto District Municipality Co-mayor

33 - Kadir Konur – Şırnak's Cizre District Municipality Co-mayor

34 - Tuncer Bakırhan - Siirt Municipality Co-mayor

35 - Mehmet Ali Bul - Dersim Municipality Co-mayor

36 - Nurhayat Altun - Dersim Municipality Co-mayor

37 - Rabia Takas – Silopi's Başverimli Town Municipality Co-mayor

38 - Tahir Aytış - Silopi's Başverimli Town Municipality Co-mayor

39 - Ahmet Türk - Mardin Metropolitan Municipality Co-mayor

40- Nevin Daşdemir - Bitlis Municipality Co-mayor

41- Hüseyin Olan - Bitlis Municipality Co-mayor

42 - Senayet Ata – Bitlis' Güroymak District Municipality Co-mayor

43- Mehmet Emin Avras - Bitlis' Güroymak District Municipality Co-mayor

44- Halis Coşkun – Muş's Malazgirt District Municipality Co-mayor

45 - Memnune Söylemez - Muş's Malazgirt District Municipality Co-mayor