International protests are growing against the appointment of a trustee to the municipality of Hakkari.

European Union Rapporteur on Turkey Nacho Sánchez Amor strongly criticized the appointment of a trustee to Hakkari (Colemêrg) municipality, describing it as a blatant attack on democratic principles.

Sánchez Amor wrote on X "Elected mayor of Hakkari, Mehmet Sıddık Akış, arrested and replaced by a trustee from the Government. Blatant attack to democratic principles and total disregard to people's will: fastest way for Government to demolish any hope of accession revival."

Kati Piri

Kati Piri, a member of the Green Left Party in the Dutch Parliament, emphasized in her statement on X that appointing trustees is not democracy. She wrote: "Erdoğan believes democracy is perfectly fine, as long as you vote for his party.

The people of Hakkari elected their Kurdish mayor, Mehmet Sıddık Akış, just two months ago. Arresting and replacing him with a government trustee is NOT democracy."

Özlem Alev Demirel

European Parliament Left Group MP Özlem Alev Demirel wrote: "Once again, Erdoğan is not respecting the will of the Kurdish people and the results of the elections. The elected mayor of Hakkari was removed from office today and a trustee was appointed in his place. This arbitrary state action cannot be tolerated."

Esquerra Republicana

The Catalan Esquerra Republicana wrote: "The Turkish government is again interfering in the election result, this time by arresting the mayor of the city of Hakkari.

We condemn this arrest and the Erdoğan regime's actions against the democratic system and pluralism."

BastA!

Swiss left-wing ecological party Basels starke Alternative (BastA! - Basel's strong alternative) wrote: "This morning, the elected co-mayor of Hakkari Municipality, Mehmet Sıddık Akış, was detained. The AKP/MHP government wants to continue the forced government system. This is a danger for all opposition parties and therefore for democracy."