AMED - Co-Mayor of Peyas Municipality Cengiz Dündar, who was released after being arrested for his trade union activities when he was a teacher, stated that the government must give up policies that harm justice and said that these policies will not be fruitful.
Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Peyas (Kayapınar) Co-Mayor Cengiz Dündar, who was arrested on 30 November 2024 through an Ankara-based investigation, was released from Sincan Prison on 13 January. Dündar was accused of participating in protests and events organised by the Education and Science Workers' Union (Eğitim Sen) and the Confederation of Public Laborer's Unions (KESK), of which he is a member.
Dündar said that the criminalisation of his trade union activities, which were used as grounds for his arrest, was anti-democratic. Emphasising that many people were arrested without any crime, Dündar said, "As long as the law operates in line with the universal rules revealed by the human rights and justice board, we accept every aspect of it, but we do not accept anti-democratic arrests in other situations."
Stating that his detention and arrest is not independent of the AKP's defeat in the 31 March elections, Dündar said, "The AKP refuses to accept the will of the ballot box and says, 'Either you will be subject to me or I will not give you a comfortable face with the policies I have revealed at the point of right to life. Anti-democratic practices and policies will not yield any results in the eyes of the society. Our demand from the government is that it should give up these anti-democratic practices and raise the process to the universal point for the benefit of society. The state should review its policies and turn towards populist policies as much as possible."
Noting that the government has made the municipalities unable to produce services within the scope of austerity measures as well as detention and arrest operations, Dündar emphasised that they have experienced serious problems in service due to the current situation, but that they have continued and will continue to serve despite this.
Dündar listed some of the works they carried out in 10 months despite all the obstacles as follows: "We put the Public Restaurant and Soup Kitchen into service. We have put the bakery project into service for celiac patients. We supported 500 university students and developed solutions to the problems of rural neighbourhoods. We continue to provide 2,500 TL cash aid to 3 thousand families every month for a year. We opened the Directorate of Disabled and Elderly Services, Öz Kayapınar Sports Club and brought young people together with sports. We opened the Library of Women's Works, we activated the multilingual Zarokistan Nursery, which was closed during the trustee period."