Joint reaction from unions to trustee appointments: 'Respect the will of the people!'

The Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), the Confederation of Public Employees' Trade Unions (KESK), the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), and the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) issued a joint statement protesting the government's practice of appointing trustees to certain municipalities. The statement pointed out that the trustee appointments are a political operation and expressed that these steps cause great harm to democracy.

Following Batman, Mardin, Halfeti, and Esenyurt, trustee appointments were most recently made to the DEM Party-affiliated Tunceli Municipality and the CHP-affiliated Ovacık Municipality by the decision of the Ministry of Interior. These trustee appointments were met with strong reactions from unions and civil society organizations.

The statement included the following remarks:

“The political power is systematically eliminating all democratic rights. With these anti-democratic practices, they are clearly declaring that they will no longer recognize the ballot box results of elections they cannot win.” Furthermore, a call was made: “Abandon the trustee policy! Respect the will of the people!”

The unions emphasized that the trustee appointments have no legal basis and are entirely a political operation.

News Source: 12punto