A major rally in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority city of Hakkari (Colemêrg) aims to expel a state-appointed trustee from the municipality and bring back Mehmet Sıddık Akış, the democratically elected co-mayor. The 13 June march comes as part of a nationwide campaign led by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, which Akış represents.
Tens of thousands of supporters flooded from across Turkey to join the march and call for democracy to be upheld in response to the post-local election ousting of the mayor-elect, including masses of citizens, prominent politicians, and NGO representatives.
DEM Party Co-Chair Tulay Hatimoğulları, said, on Wednesday, that the rally had been organised to “establish a peaceful society on the basis of equal citizenship.”
The party’s deputy group chairman, Sezai Temelli, just prior to the rally said, “As long as the trustee coup continues, the resistance will continue.”
On 2 June, Akış, elected mayor of Hakkari in the country’s local elections two months prior, was arrested on terrorism charges, removed from office and fast-track sentenced to 19 years and six months behind bars. Hakkari Governor Ali Çelik was immediately appointed in his place.
Çelik was accused, at the end of a previous trustee term, of financial irregularities and mismanagement. According to reports, Çelik had used a significant part of the municipality’s budget to finance the AKP’s next election campaign.
