Residents of Batman have gathered to protest against the appointment of a trustee to administration of the city’s municipality, which is led by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party.
Speaking at the demonstration, DEM Party co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan recalled a recent handshake between far right government coalition partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, saying, “We thought they might negotiate, but we see they are planning our liquidation.”
Bakırhan warned the “usurpers and thieves” preparing this “plot” to give up on their attempts to deny the identity and will of the Kurdish people. “We tell our comrades and our people: We will continue the struggle until we create a time when the will of the people of Êlih [Batman] will manifest once more on these lands, where life will again be humane,” he said.
DEM Party co-chair Tülay Hatimoğulları described the trustee appointment as a “coup” seeking to steal the will of the people, similar to the lifting of parliamentary immunity in 2016, that led to the imprisonment of pro-Kurdish party co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ.
“The Kurdish people will raise the voice of the struggle for freedom and democracy together with other peoples and with women in Turkey, as one body,” she said. “The will of the people will be manifested on these streets. We will all stand up for this will together.”
Pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP) co-chair Keskin Bayındır said that the Kurdish people reject the “occupation” and will resist until their will prevails. “Our response to you is struggle and resistance until the end, until we succeed,” he said, addressing the government.
Chants of “Long live the resistance of the Kurdish people” and “Kurdistan will be the grave of fascism,” rang out throughout the demonstration.
