Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said, “Erdogan called me, ‘I am uncomfortable with HDP municipalities’,” regarding the trustees at a rally he attended recently. I appointed trustees to all of them in two days,” he said. Evaluating this statement, Van BŞB Co-chair Mustafa Avcı, who was replaced by a trustee, said, “With this speech, Soylu actually cut the bill to Erdoğan. This shows the state of panic among them,” he said.
Following the trustees appointed to municipalities under the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) in 2016, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) won the municipalities with a large vote difference, especially in the Serhat region in 2019. However, while the mandates of the mayors were not given due to the Decree-Law and the reason for their dismissal, trustees were appointed to the remaining municipalities and many mayors were detained and arrested. Süleyman Soylu, Minister of Interior and AKP Istanbul deputy candidate, said about the municipalities that are under HDP and appointed trustees at the event organized by his party in Gaziosmanpaşa Yıldıztabya District, “I want one eye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave me two eyes. After 2 days, we got them all.”
Van Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Mustafa Avcı, who made evaluations on these words to Serhat News, reminded President Erdoğan’s words “Even if they win, we will appoint trustees” even before they could win the municipalities.
‘They had prepared the ground for the appointment of trustees in advance’
Saying that an environment was prepared for irregularities before the first trustee appointments, Avcı said, “They slandered our municipalities, they carried out black propaganda on television for 2-3 months. Although the majority of the society did not believe them, a significant majority of them asked, “What if?” Before the second trustee appointments, before the ballot box results came out, Erdogan said, “We will appoint a trustee even if you win,” and those who said “I wonder” in the first trustee appointments began to ask why they would appoint a trustee after Erdoğan’s speech.
Underlining that they faced the threat of trustees before their election was clear, Avcı said, “In the ballot box results, our 6-7 mayors, whom we won with a new style and large vote differences, were not given their mandates on the grounds that they were members of the Statutory Decree. Then, after we were on duty for 3 months, they appointed a trustee. Even before we received our mandate, the metropolitan governors wrote to Süleyman Soylu that they should appoint trustees in haste.”
‘He deciphered this with his noble speech’
Recalling the speeches Soylu made to the municipalities in his party, Avcı said, “I wanted one eye, Erdoğan gave two eyes. Erdogan called me and said, “Let’s appoint a trustee”. Soylu already wanted to appoint a trustee. When Erdogan called him and told him, he appointed trustees in two days. Did we do any unlawful acts? Our friends are inside for the reasons they have prepared. They were sentenced to 10-16 years in prison. We already knew that they were inside illegally, unlawfully, but Soylu deciphered this with his speech.”
‘We will ask them about their unlawfulness’
Saying that he believes the People’s Alliance will lose on May 14, Avcı said, “They will be asked about their unlawfulness. With this speech, Soylu actually cut the bill to Erdoğan. This shows the state of panic among them. We are at the beginning of our duty, we do not sit idly by. If our people had dismissed us for whatever reason, death would have been better for us. However, Soylu and Erdoğan pushed us aside with state force. However, we still see the duty of the Municipalities of our people. We have no issues with that. Even though we did not have any municipal facilities, we did what we could for our people. We will continue to be at our duty until the next elections,” he said.
We will return to our duty’
Avcı finally said that this regime will leave and they will return to their duties on May 14, saying, “We will use the opportunities and resources of this region for this city. Erdoğan is holding a rally in Beşyol, and bills the municipality for the cost of the rally with 5 million TL. The municipality has no right to finance the AKP’s rally. The resources of this city have been spent for the last 4 years for the local rulers. This is where the difference between us and the trustee becomes clear. We believe that our people also want change and this mentality that wants war, theft and lawlessness will go away on May 14. Afterwards, we believe that within 15-20 days, we will return to our duties and solve the problems we have identified with the municipality’s facilities and our people.
Serhat News
Translator :Akif Coşkun
