Mayor under prosecution is apprehended and removed from power in southern Turkey.
Following the local elections in Turkey, the Kurdish mayor of the Hakkari municipality in the southeast of the nation was captured and ousted from power. The Interior Ministry declared that the provincial governor would be the new trustee. The reason behind this was continuous probes against the elected mayor Mehmet Siddik Akis from the pro-Kurdish party DBP on terror-related accusations.
The DBP perceived this as a politically driven move and urged protests. "This is a coup against the right to vote," claimed deputy MP Gülştan Kılıç Koçyiğit.
The DBP politician Akis is being charged by the Interior Ministry with being an active member and leader of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey, the EU, and the US. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees the DBP as an extension of the PKK. Nevertheless, the DBP refutes this claim.
The investigation file is under lock and key, and even the defense attorney cannot access it, said Koçyiğit. She also condemned the fact that Akis was stripped of his post without a legal verdict against him, deeming it unlawful. "With the decision on forced administration, the government has started to exact vengeance on our municipalities for their defeat in the elections on March 31," she exclaimed.
In the polls at the end of March, the ruling AKP party endured a historically subpar performance. The principal opposition party CHP was the most powerful force on a municipal level. The DBP achieved 78 mayoral positions and thus surpassed their result from the 2019 municipal elections. Back then, the majority of the Kurdish mayors were ousted by the government.
The DBP (formerly HDP) has been under pressure for years. Early in May, the party's previous head, Selahattin Demirtaş, who was imprisoned in 2016, was convicted to 42 years behind bars amidst multiple accusations, including terrorist propaganda.
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Despite the DBP's victory in securing 78 mayoral positions in the southeast Turkey, including Hakkari, the Interior Ministry removed the authorized signatory and mayor of Hakkari, Mehmet Siddik Akis, from power due to terror-related accusations. Despite the ongoing investigation and Akis' stance of innocence, his removal was seen as a violation of the right to vote by DBP politician Gülştan Kılıç Koçyiğit, who labeled it as a 'coup'.
