DEM Party Akdeniz Co-Mayors released: They had been detained for 10 months

Hoşyar Sarıyıldız, Nuriye Arslan, and Deputy Mayor Özgür Çağlar were released following their first hearing, which lasted approximately 12 hours. Hoşyar Sarıyıldız and Özgür Çağlar attended the hearing at the Mersin 2nd High Criminal Court in person, while Nuriye Arslan participated via the SEGBİS video conferencing system.

Hoşyar Sarıyıldız began his defense in court by stating, "After being kept in a 10-square-meter space for a year, I am now in this courtroom where I defended my clients for years."

Stating that they had been detained for 10 months as part of a political case during a period when Turkey is discussing a new resolution process, Sarıyıldız said that their arrest and the appointment of a trustee to the municipality meant the usurpation of the public will.

Sarıyıldız said, "I have been in Mersin since 2015. There has been no investigation against me. No lawsuit was filed. The moment I became a mayoral candidate, a 'made-to-order' file was put into effect and I was arrested."

CİMER COMPLAINTS INCLUDED IN THE FILE

Stating that there was no concrete evidence in the indictment prepared against them and that social media posts and CİMER complaints were included in the file, Sarıyıldız said:

"I shared a photo of the moment our late deputy Orhan Doğan was taken into custody; even that made it into the indictment. Unfortunately, we have experienced the same fate as Orhan Doğan. Only the location has changed. The indictment claims I have organizational ties with my relatives in Siirt. I have no relatives in Siirt. In some places, they wrote my name as 'Hoşer'. We are being tried with such an indictment. There is a positive process. Perhaps in a month or two, we will be reinstated to our duties. While the organization has burned its weapons and dissolved itself, and the grounds for the case have disappeared, I ask the court not to grant legitimacy to the trustee, to make a historic decision, and to issue an acquittal."

Co-Mayor Nuriye Arslan, who participated in the hearing via SEGBİS, also stated that she would give her oral defense in Kurdish and requested an interpreter. The assigned interpreter withdrew from the duty, stating that they could not translate Arslan's speech because it was "academic." A new interpreter was then assigned. Nuriye Arslan said, "There are millions of Kurds in this country, but you do not have anyone ready to interpret in court. I have already submitted my written defense to the court panel in Turkish. We have been detained for months due to political motives and slanders."

The hearing, which started at 10:00 AM, ended at 10:00 PM. The Mersin 2nd High Criminal Court panel issued a release order for DEM Party Akdeniz Municipality Co-Mayors Hoşyar Sarıyıldız and Nuriye Arslan, and Deputy Mayor Özgür Çağlar.

"NOW IT IS TIME TO END THE TRUSTEE USURPATION"

DEM Party Mersin Deputy Ali Bozan, in a statement made in front of the courthouse after the hearing, said, "When our friends were taken into custody and brought to this courthouse, we said, 'there is no account our friends cannot give.' Today, throughout the 12-hour trial, we saw this. Today, our friends were not actually the ones on trial. They were the ones judging. They judged the 10-month period. They judged the trustee usurpation. Our Akdeniz Municipality co-mayors and deputy mayors have been released. Now it is time to end the trustee usurpation, to return the Akdeniz Municipality to the people, and to hand over the Akdeniz Municipality to the elected co-mayors."