The police, who have been besieging Hakkari Municipality, raided the municipality in the morning. Co-mayor Mehmet Sıddık Akış was arrested. The Ministry of Interior appointed the governor of Hakkari as a trustee in Akış's place. The ministry cited a 2014 case in which Akış was accused of "membership of a terrorist organisation" and "propaganda for the organisation", as well as an ongoing investigation, as reasons for appointing a trustee.
At around 11pm, the Hakkari municipality, which was won by the People's Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) in the 31 March local elections, was besieged by hundreds of police officers. All roads leading to and around the municipality were closed to traffic by the police. After the siege, it was claimed that the doors of the municipality were broken down in the early hours of the morning and that all department heads were urgently called to duty. It was also reported that the mayor of Hakkari, Mehmet Sıddık Akış, was detained at his daughter's house in Van.
TRUSTEE APPOINTED FOR MUNICIPALITY
In a post on social media, the Ministry of Interior announced that Hakkari Governor Ali Çelik had been appointed as trustee in place of Sıddık Akış. The ministry cited Akış's ongoing trial at the Hakkari 1st High Criminal Court on charges of "membership of a terrorist organisation" and "propaganda for the organisation", as well as an ongoing investigation, as reasons for his dismissal. Following the arrest of co-mayor Akış, the Hakkari Governor's Office banned demonstrations and events.
DEM PARTY: "WE REJECT THE TRUSTEE MENTALITY"
The DEM party issued a statement on its social media account X regarding Akış's arrest. The statement read in part:
"Once again, the government, defeated by the will of the people, has resorted to the usurpation of will and coup that it knows best. This morning, our co-mayor of Hakkari, Mehmet Sıddık Akış, was arrested in Van and our municipality was taken over by the police. We reject this trustee mentality. Our people democratically demonstrated their rejection of this trustee mentality on 31 March. This coup and trustee mentality is a threat not only to Hakkari but to the will of all the people of Turkey. Our people will show their democratic reactions at the highest level. We call on all those who stand for democracy to take a clear stand against this coup.
EMEP: "AN ATTACK ON THE WILL OF ALL TURKISH PEOPLE"
The Labour Party (EMEP) said: "The one-man government, unable to implement its policy of usurping the will of the people by illegally using state resources in the cities it lost at the ballot box, has resorted to appointing a trustee for the Hakkari Municipality. The trustee decision of the one-man, one-party regime, which has lost its power to govern alone and its position as the leading party, is an attack on the will of not only the people of Hakkari but all the people of Turkey. The policies under the name of "normalisation" and "softening" have brought illegality, police siege and usurpation of will to the people of Hakkari and the Kurdish people. The government, which violates the constitution that it has changed several times in order to consolidate its own power, is shameless enough to seek support for a 'new constitution' despite all this. The trustee appointed by the AKP government, who has signed practices that rival those of the coup plotters, is null and void in the eyes of the people. (EVRENSEL DAILY)
Aras Coşkuntuncel
