Democracy Vigils have been going on for 34 days, since the municipalities of Amed, Van and Mardin were seized by the AKP through the appointment of trustees. 

HDP Antalya Deputy Kemal Bülbül addressed the Vigil and first of all condemned the new arrest warrant issued by Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against former HDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yüksekdag.

“This is a legal scandal. - he said - This is the proof that the legal system is dead.”

Ferhat Kalkan, a member of the HDP Youth Assembly, said: “When the AKP realized that it would lose the HDP-run municipalities in 2016, it donated many buildings to different institutions and foundations.”

Kalkan added, “When the trustees realized that they were going, they even stole the light bulbs in our municipalities. All these unlawful practices continued and now they have sezied our municipalities once again using false accusations of “supporting terrorism” against the mayors.”

Kalkan continued: “The AKP-MHP fascist alliance has lost Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya, and many metropolitan municipalities and they are trying to cover the deepening economic crisis, the raising unemployment, the refugees issue, the deadlock in foreign affairs, with artificial agendas it uses to attack achievemts in Turkey and Syria.