Turkish police storm town hall of Hakkari and take DEM party co-mayor into custody

Turkish police stormed the town hall of Hakkari and took the co-mayor Mehmet Sıddık Akış into custody.

After the landslide victory of the DEM party in Kurdistan, with more city administrations than ever before, the AKP regime is going on the offensive. At around 11 p.m. on Sunday night, the Turkish police surrounded the town hall of Hakkari (Colemêrg). Hundreds of police officers blocked all roads to the town hall. Early in the morning, the police smashed down the town hall door and stormed the building. At the same time, the co-mayor of Hakkari, Mehmet Sıddık Akış, was taken into custody in the neighboring town of Van (Wan).

Akış had won the election in Hakkari with 48.92 percent despite massive electoral fraud and the deployment of tens of thousands of soldiers as "ghost voters".

The DEM party said: "The regime, which has failed to meet the will of the people as it has done every time, has once again resorted to the means it knows best: vote theft and coup. This morning, our co-mayor of Hakkari, Mehmet Sıddık Akış, was arrested in Van and our town hall was occupied by the police by force. We do not accept this trustee attitude. Our people showed in a democratic way on 31 March that they do not recognize the trusteeship. This coup and trustee mentality poses a threat not only to Hakkari but also to the will of all people in Turkey. Our people will show their democratic protests at the highest level. We call on all democrats to take a clear stand against this coup."