Trustee claim from İsmail Saymaz: It could spread province by province

Mehmet Sıddık Akış, the mayor of Hakkari Municipality, which the DEM Party won with 48.92 percent of the vote in the March 31 Local Elections, has been detained. Hakkari Governor Ali Çelik was appointed in his place.

The Ministry of Interior cited a lawsuit filed against Akış for "membership in a terrorist organization" and "making propaganda for an organization," as well as an ongoing investigation, as the reason for the removal from office.

Evaluating the decision to appoint a trustee to Hakkari Municipality, Sözcü columnist İsmail Saymaz stated that the normalization climate between CHP Chairman Özgür Özel and AKP Chairman and President Tayyip Erdoğan has come to an end.

In his article titled 'Normalization is forbidden for DEM members', Saymaz wrote: "At least, that is the situation from the perspective of DEM Party members... Because the police went to the municipality before Erdoğan went to pay a return visit to the CHP. In the same week that Galatasaray Square was opened to the 'Saturday Mothers,' a trustee is appointed to Hakkari. The KCK case, in which Akış has been on trial for 10 years and which posed no legal obstacle to his election, is being used as the justification for appointing a trustee. Moreover, all of this is happening by suddenly accelerating the case and preparing an opinion between hearings. It seems that Hakkari will be followed by others."

Noting that the trustee practice could spread province by province depending on the political atmosphere, Saymaz stated: "Now we are facing a third wave of trustees. After the local elections in 2014 and 2019, the trustee policy did not set the DEM back. On the contrary, DEM Party members, who felt that their will was being interfered with, both took back the municipalities that were seized and caused the AK Party to lose in the west. It will be no different in 2029."