Turkey
DEM Party co-Chair Tulay Hatimogullari speaking at a demonstartion in Sirnak on April 7, 2024. Photo: DEM Party
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) on Sunday protested the investiture of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidate as mayor of Sirnak and accused the ruling party of committing election fraud.
“Today we are in Sirnak. The AKP government has usurped the will of the people of Sirnak on March 31st with its military and police, and stole the election,” said Tulay Hatimogullari, co-chair of the DEM Party, during a protest in Sirnak.
During local elections on March 31, large numbers of police officers and military personnel were seen casting their votes in the small Kurdish city of Sirnak.
“One out of every two people present on election day in Sirnak was either a soldier or a policeman,” said Hatimogullari.
The AKP candidate Mehmet Yarka won the vote and was officially handed the mandate by the Sirnak office of the electoral body.
“The current mayor who received the mandate in Sirnak is not legitimate. We call for the immediate resignation of this mayor, who falsely believes they can govern the people of Sirnak through theft and shamelessly assumes office,” said Hatimogullari.
Turkey held its local elections on Sunday. AKP saw its support plummet and nationwide the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) won. According to preliminary results, DEM Party garnered 5.7 percent of the votes across the country and won in much of the Kurdish-majority southeast. The party has challenged several outcomes where it said there was fraud.
In Van, DEM Party candidate Abdullah Zeydan got over 55 percent of the votes, while the runner-up, Abdulahat Arvas, candidate of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), received 27 percent. Zeydan’s candidacy, however, had been revoked at the last minute and the win was handed to Arvas. Protests and demonstrations erupted across the Kurdish-majority southeast in reaction to the move.
On Wednesday, the Turkish electoral body accepted an appeal by DEM Party to reinstate Zeydan’s win, and on Friday he officially received the mandate.
In the 2019 local elections, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), DEM’s sister party, won the mayoralty in eight provinces, only to see dozens of elected pro-Kurdish mayors ousted from office and replaced with state-linked trustees over the years, due to their alleged links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
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