The municipalities of Batman, Mardin and Halfeti, which were won by the DEM Party in the local elections of 31 March this year, were usurped on 4 November through the removal of the democratically elected co-mayors by the Ministry of Interior and appointment of trustees in their places.

Batman Governor Ekrem Canalp, who was appointed a trustee to replace the deposed co-mayors Gülistan Sönük and Yeşil Işık, had a poster reading ‘One state, one flag, one nation, one homeland’ hung at the entrance of the municipality.

The usurper Canalp, who had the municipality surrounded with police barriers, assigned a large number of police officers from Batman Provincial Security Directorate to ‘take security measures’ inside the municipality.

In the municipality building, which is besieged by the police and monitored by helicopter at night, the usurper Canalp had the X-Ray device, which had been removed by co-mayors Gülistan Sönük and Yeşil Işık, reinstalled. The usurper also reintroduced the practice of body search and X-Ray scanning of people entering the municipality.

The police prevented the unlawfully removed co-mayors Gülistan Sönük and Yeşil Işık and municipal council members from entering the municipality. The group was stopped 100 metres before the municipality building and then blockaded by the police.

The group protested the blockade with the slogans ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadî’ (Woman, Life, Freedom) and ‘Bijî berxwedana Batmanê’ (Long Live the Resistance of Batman), DEM Party Batman Provincial Co-Chair Mustafa Mesut Tekik said, “We see the trustees as an attack on the will of the people. We do not accept this. Our struggle will continue until those elected are reinstated.”