Speaking at the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party’s weekly group meeting in the Turkish Parliament on Tuesday, Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan sharply criticised the government’s recent appointment of trustees in Kurdish-majority areas, labelling the move as a “seizure of the people’s will” and a “political coup”– and called on Turkish leaders to find a solution to Kurdish question within Turkey.
Bakırhan highlighted the widespread protest action in response to trustee appointments, describing the demonstrations as an expression of Kurdish frustration and defiance. Demonstrators outside municipal buildings in trustee-controlled areas have faced police repression, he said, yet continue to deliver a clear message: “This is a political coup. You cannot take away our will.”
He shared the words of a Kurdish mother in Batman who said, “Av bi bêjingê nayê komkirin”—“You cannot gather water with a sieve.” Bakırhan stated, “These attempts to silence Kurdish demands are as futile as ‘gathering water with a sieve’. The people want democracy, not state-imposed control.”
He then addressed the government’s overall approach to dissent, specifically criticising President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s praise of the judiciary for supporting the trustee system. “Erdoğan says the judiciary stood firm, and he congratulates them,” Bakırhan noted. “But is there even a judiciary left to commend? This so-called ‘firmness’ is just an excuse to impose trustees on Kurdish, Turkish, and working-class communities alike.”
Bakırhan challenged Erdoğan’s assertion that DEM Party should have presented “clean candidates”, adding, “If we had an instrument to measure political integrity, we’d all see clearly who is ‘clean’ and who is not.”
The DEM Party leader also called on members of the Turkish Parliament to address the trustee system directly, urging them to repeal the enabling legislation. “I invite all parties and our Speaker of Parliament to convene and discuss this issue,” he said. “In one day, we could review this law and remove this obstacle to democracy, allowing the leaders elected by the people to serve until the next election.”
Bakırhan warned that the policy of trusteeship could expand beyond Kurdish regions, eventually affecting communities across Turkey. “Trustee appointments are no longer just a Kurdish question,” he cautioned. “Recent events in Esenyurt make it clear that this policy will spread unless we resist it together.”
Bakırhan also condemned the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader, viewing it as a barrier to peace. Responding to recent comments by the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, who had suggested that “democratic dialogue” was necessary, Bakırhan criticised the government’s contradictory actions.
“While Bahçeli speaks about the importance of Öcalan’s democratic role, Erdoğan responds by imposing a new three-month disciplinary penalty on him. Bahçeli speaks, and Erdoğan blocks,” he stated. For Bakırhan, lifting Öcalan’s isolation is essential for any genuine commitment to peace, and he called on the government to allow Öcalan a role in ongoing Kurdish question.
Directly addressing Bahçeli’s recent remarks about “saving the future”, Bakırhan questioned the logic of seeking unity while denying Kurdish voices. “Bahçeli talks about securing the future, but how can we save it by erasing the past? If a united future is the goal, we must move beyond denial and repression,” he asserted.
Bakırhan urged Bahçeli to reconsider his “divisive language”, challenging his portrayal of Kurdish demands as a threat to national security. “You can’t claim to build a shared future while treating part of the population as a perpetual threat,” Bakırhan argued, adding that unity cannot coexist with exclusion and suppression.
In his closing remarks, Bakırhan extended an invitation for open dialogue with all political parties represented in Parliament, stressing that Turkey’s future depends on addressing these longstanding issues with honesty. “If we’re serious about resolving the greatest issue facing our country, we must confront the painful legacy of the past century and move forward with integrity.” He expressed the DEM Party’s commitment to honourable peace, saying, “If Turkey’s children, youth, and mothers stand to gain from honourable peace, we as a party will meet every genuine step taken toward it with two of our own.”
Bakırhan’s remarks represent a call to action for the government and Parliament to address the Kurdish question through democratic means, moving toward a future built on respect and unity rather than repression and exclusion.
