The municipality council members of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) are prevented from entering the municipality by the police. The councillors said they will continue their struggle.

 

Êlih (Batman) Municipality Council member Tuba Demir stated that a coup against the will of the people was carried out on 4 November, "We will resist against the appointment of trustees in the squares until we get results. We came here with the will of the people. We are prevented from entering the municipality. We will never accept this unlawfulness. We have also made our legal application. Those who committed this offence will be held accountable before the judiciary," she said. 

 

'THEY WANT TO CONTINUE CORRUPTION'

 

Municipality Council member Fatma Tan reminded that there was a great resistance against the trustees in the city and said: "There are 35 council members from DEM Party, 2 from HUDA-PAR and 1 from AKP. They do not allow us to enter the municipalities. We are blockaded every time we go. We are prevented from entering without any legal justification. The reason why the councillors are not allowed into the municipality is that they want to continue the corruption that took place in the previous trustee appointments. The trustee is plundering the municipality's budget by taking decisions alone."

 

'WE WILL NOT TAKE A STEP BACK'

 

Reminding that a trustee was appointed on the day of the Municipal Assembly meeting, Hüseyin Çam emphasised that there was intolerance towards the will of the Kurdish people. The resistance against the trustee still continues in the city said Çam and added: "We are struggling to enter the municipality. Each time we face a big blockade around the municipality. But we will not step back. Those who do not recognise the existence of Kurds are attacking their will today and appointing trustees. The theft during the trustee process is obvious. They appointed trustees to continue this theft. They do not let the councillors into the municipality.  We will try to be worthy of the people's struggle.  We will resist and we will not back down."

 

'WOMEN-LED RESISTANCE WILL WIN'

 

Reminding that women's representation was targeted before the 31 March local elections in the city, Municipal Assembly member Elif Kıvırcık pointed out that the attack on women's will continued after the elections. Stating that the people of Êlih responded to this by electing Gülistan Sönük as co-mayor with a record vote, Elif Kıvırcık continued as follows: "However, those who could not tolerate this stole the will of the people of the city and appointed a trustee. The women-led resistance is still continuing. This will was not broken neither before the election nor after the appointment of the trustee. Our resistance will continue. No power can stand against the resistance of women. We will grow our resistance together with our people. We will also respond to the attacks on women's gains after the trustee appointment."

 

MA / Fethi Balaman