The appointment of trustees to Mêrdîn (Mardin) Metropolitan Municipality was protested with a march organised with the participation of Peoples' Democratic Congress (HDK) Co-spokesperson Ali Kenanoğlu. DEM Party MPs Saliha Aydeniz and Beritan Güneş Altın also supported the gathering at the entrance of İstasyon neighbourhood. 

 

Speaking first, Co-mayor Devrim Demir stated that the people have been struggling since the first day trustees were appointed and said that they will increase their organisation. Noting that the trustees have not given a single thing to the people for 8 years and have not served, Devrim Demir said that they will see together that nothing will be done for the people after this time. 

 

HDK Co-spokesperson Ali Kenanoğlu stated that civil society and democratic life are very important in democracies and that the trustee policy is a practice that suspends democracy, ignores the will of the people, eliminates elected people and the issue of elections. Stating that the government wants to design the whole country with the desire for a one-man regime, Kenanoğlu said that the government targeted the Kurdish people and tried to ignore the will of the people. 

 

Monist understanding has prevailed in the hundred-year history of the republic and that the perception of "terrorist" has changed each time said Kenanoğlu and added: "But the most prominent and the most current of these is applied on the Kurdish people."

 

'THERE IS NO SOLUTION OTHER THAN COEXISTENCE'

 

Noting that for 9 years they have been saying "As long as peace does not come to these lands, there will be no peace neither in the west, nor in the east, nor in the Black Sea, nor in the Aegean", Kenanoğlu drew attention to the government's war policies and the budget allocated to the defence industry and said: "As long as these are in place, it is not possible for the country to rise and for the economy to be good".

 

Emphasising that the main thing is not the reconciliation of politicians, but the people's living in peace and tranquility, Kenanoğlu stated that for this, the language must first be corrected. 

 

The poisonous language that has been established for years has poisoned people and for this reason, when steps are taken for peace today, the poisoned languages react said Kenanoğlu and continued as follows: "There is no solution other than living together in a common homeland. For this reason, instead of rejecting your policies, rejecting your trustee policies, conducting operations every day, arresting politicians, arresting artists, we need to think and put forward together how we can establish lasting peace in these lands." Kenanoğlu said that they will continue to wage all kinds of struggles that will frustrate the war and trustee policies of the government.

 

After the statements, the programme ended with a 5-minute sit-in protest.