The state trustee appointed to Mardin Municipality has fired the head of the Department of Women and Family Policies, Mehtap Bingül.
Bingül was accused of corruption for renting her family’s apartments to the municipality at high prices. A man named Abdurrahman Şahin has now been appointed to lead the department.
Bingül was appointed to the position after the trustee removed another woman, Gülizar İpek. İpek was chosen by the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) administration in Mardin, but could not continue her work after the elected HDP mayor of Mardin was removed from office.
İpek commented on the implications of a man being appointed to a leadership position on women’s issues:
“The trustee discharged Mehtap Bingül, which is good. However, a man cannot be appointed to that position. The trustee mentality in Kurdistan is attacking women’s rights first; we see it in many aspects of life. They do not want free women. This is sexist and we are fighting against this mentality”
According to a report from the HDP, 47 trustees have been appointed in municipalities where HDP candidates won elections in 2019. 18 HDP co-mayors have been arrested, and the votes of about 4,268,000 citizens have been ignored.