Mass demonstrations against Turkish government’s replacement of elected Kurdish officials with state-appointed trustees continued across multiple cities, with the authorities arresting over 200 people, including 173 of whom 56 are children, in Batman (Êlih) alone.
Demonstrations spread across Kurdish-majority regions of the country including Batman, Halfeti (Xelfetî) and Mardin (Mêrdîn) from 4 to 8 November. The police detained residents both during street protests and in house raids, with 18 people, including three minors, formally arrested and charged, and 28 others held in police custody for questioning.
“This is an attempt to normalise attacks on the will of the people,” said a spokesperson for the Confederation of Union of Public Workers (KESK) Van (Wan) Branches Platform, Nihat Tunç to protesters.
In Mardin, thousands gathered in defiance of the heavy police presence surrounding the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party building. Veteran Kurdish politician and deposed Mardin Co-Mayor Ahmet Türk addressed the crowd: “They extend one hand, while the other holds a stick to make us give up our freedom, identity and rights.”
Turkish opposition figures have joined the demonstrations, warning that the practice of appointing trustees could spread beyond Kurdish regions. “Trustee appointments will continue spreading to new municipalities,” İzmir lawyer and activist Zöhre Dalkıran warned.
DEM Party representative Özgül Saki argued in İstanbul that the aim of the trustee policy is to isolate Kurdish communities. “The goal is to make this repressive system permanent,” she said.
Mardin Co-Mayor Devrim Demir condemned the appointments as an attack on Kurdish governance. “Trustees attack our freedom and betray the model of municipal governance that we have worked hard to build,” she said.
