The Diyarbakır Governor’s Office on Thursday denied media reports suggesting that it appointed trustees to the municipalities of Sur and Silvan, which are run by the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP).
District governors were named as trustees, media reports said, however, the governor’s office said in a statement later in the day that no trustees were appointed to these municipalities and if the governor’s office makes such a move, it will announce it to the public.
Co-mayors of Sur and DBP members Seyid Narin and Fatma Şık Barut, and Co-mayor of Silvan Yüksek Bodakçı were arrested on Aug. 23 on charges of issuing a declaration of “self-governance.”
Murat Karayılan, the leader of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) – an umbrella organization that includes the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) — said in a statement in June that they will directly attack the trustees that the government is planning to appoint to pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) mayors’ offices.
“If they [the government] take over [HDP mayors’ offices], we will target whoever is appointed to replace the mayor. I am saying this openly. They want to expand the war, and they are imposing this on us. Of course, we will respond accordingly,” Karayılan said.