As of 7th of December, the AKP central government has taken over the 26 towns and 2 country areas won by the opposition HDP
Turkey’s ruling party AKP simply takes over local governments of towns if the opposition, progressive, pro-Kurdish, party wins the elections. Democracy in Turkey works this way, it’s simple as that.
Even if the HDP, the opposition party, wins with a huge majority of the votes, this means nothing in Turkey. The government is ready with made-up charges of, “Aiding and abating terrorist organizations” accusation to take control of the towns in Eastern Turkey. Votes, elections, voters be damned.
When Erdoğan, the current president of Turkey, approached the Kurds in 2013 to ease the tensions caused by the racist policies of the Turkish Republic since its inception in 1923, it was welcomed by the Kurds. Things seemed to go well during the negotiations and having being acknowledged for the first time in Turkey’s history the Kurds appreciated this gesture. There was a brief time then when the Kurds thought this move by the president was a genuine attempt at peace and some even supported his initiatives and voted for his AKP party. But it was the time when even some on the left thought Erdoğan was honest in his quest to bring democracy to Turkey. Things have changed a lot since then when everyone understood these overtures were tactical and things went back to the way they were once Erdoğan secured the votes he needed in those days.
The Kurdish votes Erdoğan needs are no longer there and there has to be hell to pay for the Kurds who no longer support him.
The new plan to completely eliminate the real opposition comes either with imprisoning the HDP party’s officials with fake accusations or taking over the towns HDP wins in the elections.
The “stewardship” as the Turkish government calls these take overs had started prior to the latest provincial elections. However, HDP won again and took back the administration of the towns with an overwhelming majority.
Once the opposition took control, they immediately exposed the corruption, theft, and mismanagement of their towns in the hands of the ruling party AKP’s “stewards.” From this came out an embarrassing picture where hundreds of thousand dollars’ worth of sweets purchased from vendors close to the government, remodeling of the City Hall with mahogany furniture, door and windows and even fancy marbled covered bathrooms when the stewards took over. The suppliers and businesses that enjoyed these purchases are, needless to say, all work for or support the governing AKP party. The problem is that the Kurdish towns where these extravagant spending were done are all very impoverished and the HDP opposition that the people elected all ran a transparent management where no such exuberant waste of tax payer’s money took place.
These expositions of corruption of the AKP Stewards in the towns went more south when it was revealed by the newly elected HDP representatives that nearly all these towns were left close to bankruptcy. Most towns were doing OK before the central government stepped in. It was obvious that the government stewards were acting to make sure all reserves and budgets of these towns were depleted. It was a common practice for the HDP run governments to put their budget on a large banner and hang it on their buildings for all to see. Erdoğan’s central government did not like this.
That is when the Turkish government started taking over the towns once again.
All mayors of these towns are charged with either belonging or “adding and abating” a terror organization, namely the PKK, the Workers Party of Kurdistan, a Kurdish organization Turkey accepts as a terrorist organization. But, then again, this is a blanket, a cover-all, charge that the government uses for any-all opposition to silence them.
One unanswered issue with these charges is that prior to the elections all candidates had to obtain a clearance from the Interior Ministry of Turkey. That is, all candidates were cleared from any accusation of any crime prior to the election. The Turkish government does not explain how the new mayors became accessory to terrorism right after they won the elections with landslides.
HDP uses a system of co-management in the towns it wins elections. To promote the participation of women HDP brings a woman as a co-mayor in all the towns it wins elections. It also promotes the most women to run for the elections and positions. Turkish government opposes women being given such positions and sees it as a breach of authority and sees this practice having no place in a very top-down hierarchical Turkish administration structure. Charges brought against the mayors also include having a co-mayor. Many mayors are in prison after removal from their positions.
With a new decree, four more towns where the majority if Kurdish have been put under the stewardship of the Turkish central government. This brings up the total of towns under stewardship to 28.
The take-overs are not done with an administrative paperwork. The operation involves a high number of police and soldiers surrounding the city hall and preventing the elected officials from entering the premises. The police or the soldiers also “search” the administrative buildings, trying to find any so-called evidence of association with the terrorist organizations.
In the recent confiscation of these towns, the operation on December 6 in the city of Van started first with the police raids on the homes of the elected officials. The mayors, co-mayors and their assistants were all detained at their homes. The doors of the government building were broken down by the army to let the police in. No elected city assembly members were allowed to enter the buildings.
HDP won a total of 65 local governments in the March 31, 2019 provincial elections. 3 of these are of major cities, 5 are provinces, 45 are towns and 12 are country areas. As of yesterday, however, the AKP central government has taken over the 26 towns and 2 country areas won by the opposition HDP.
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