Thirty-one bar associations in Turkey issued a joint statement on Saturday condemning the appointment of trustees to the municipalities of Dersim (Tunceli) and Ovacık (Pilur) in place of elected officials. The bar associations denounced the appointments as unlawful and contrary to the principles of democracy.
The statement notes that the recent appointment of trustees to these municipalities follows similar appointments in Hakkari (Colemêrg), Esenyurt in Istanbul, Mardin (Mêrdîn), Batman (Êlih) and Halfeti (Xelfetî), all of which were met with condemnation. The bar associations stressed that such actions violate the democratic principle of local governance and the constitutional right of citizens to elect their own representatives. “Even if there were legal concerns regarding elected mayors, the solution lies in the election process within municipal councils,” they statement said.
The bar associations further argued that the practice of appointing trustees in place of elected officials undermines the presumption of innocence and dismisses the will of the voters. “This practice, which appears to be a return to the state of emergency period, has no legal or societal legitimacy,” they continued. They called for the immediate reversal of the appointments and urged respect for the choices of the electorate and the rule of law.
The full list of signatories includes the bar associations of Adıyaman (Semsûr), Ağrı (Agirî), Antalya, Balıkesir, Batman, Bingöl, Bitlis (Çewlig), Burdur, Bursa, Diyarbakır (Amed), Eskişehir, Gaziantep (Dîlok), Hakkari, Iğdır (Îdir), İzmir, Kars (Qers), Kocaeli, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Muğla, Muş (Mûş), Sakarya, Şırnak (Şirnex), Urfa (Riha), Tekirdağ, Trabzon, Dersim, Van (Wan) and Zonguldak.
