Representatives from six opposition parties have staged a protest in front of Turkey’s Interior Ministry in Ankara, condemning the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s appointment of trustees to opposition-held municipalities to replace elected mayors, the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya news agency reported on Thursday.
Murat Emir, deputy group chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit, deputy group chairwoman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), Labor Party lawmaker Sevda Karaca Demir and Bülent Kaya, group chairman of the New Path Party — a party established this month through the merger of the Future Party (GP), the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) and the Islamist opposition Felicity Party (SP) — issued statements on Thursday condemning the appointment of trustees.
After addressing the press, they left a black wreath in front of the ministry as a symbolic act of protest.
Koçyiğit accused the ruling AKP of “eliminating all fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right to vote, the right to be elected and the right to representation” as it moves toward the 2028 elections, while Emir said the aim of the protest was to “defend democracy and the will of the people.”
“We must create avenues for people to raise their voices and resist, ensuring they are not intimidated moving forward,” Demir said.
In the latest chapter of Turkey’s ongoing crackdown on opposition municipalities, the Interior Ministry on Wednesday removed Siirt Mayor Sofya Alağaş, a DEM Party member, from office, appointing a government trustee to assume her responsibilities.
The decision came shortly after she was sentenced to over six years in prison on terrorism charges for alleged membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) due to her activities during her time as a journalist.
The PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, has been waging a bloody war in Turkey’s southeast since 1984. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.
The European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur, Nacho Sanchez Amor, condemned the development in a tweet on Wednesday, saying that “the shameful list of mayors dispossessed by the Turkish government of their democratic mandate keeps growing.”
Amor stated that 10 mayors have so far been replaced by trustees since the local elections on March 31, with more than 680.000 citizens’ votes being “stolen.”
The shameful list of mayors dispossessed by the
Gov of their democratic mandate keeps growing: today it's @AlagasSopia's turn, Co-Mayor of #Siirt Municipality from @DEMGenelMerkezi. 10 mayors so far replaced by trustees & more than 680.000 citizens whose vote has been stolen
— Nacho Sánchez Amor (@NachoSAmor) January 29, 2025
Report reveals widespread crackdown on protestors
A report drafted by the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) revealed the widespread crackdown on people protesting the removal of mayors since the local elections held on March 31, resulting in the detention of 407 people and 102 arrests.
The report showed that police forcibly dispersed protests in some of the trustee-appointed cities, using tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons and handcuffs during these interventions under the bans imposed by the governor’s offices.
According to the report, nine mayors have been removed from office in violation of the voting rights of 1,777,120 people in Mardin, Batman, Tunceli and Hakkari provinces, in addition to İstanbul’s Esenyurt district, Şanlıurfa’s Halfeti district, Van’s Bahçesaray district and Mersin’s Akdeniz district.
The practice of appointing state trustees, or “kayyım,” to replace elected mayors accused of terrorism ties dates back to a 2016 law enacted after a failed coup attempt. The law grants the government authority to dismiss and replace mayors and municipal council members on the basis of terrorism investigations, citing national security concerns. Following its implementation, trustees were assigned to 101 municipalities, predominantly those led by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which was then the main pro-Kurdish party, with 151 municipal council members also dismissed.
In the 2019 local elections only six of the 65 municipalities won by the HDP were governed without trustee appointments. Major cities with significant Kurdish populations, like Diyarbakır, Van and Mardin, were placed under trustee control, largely due to allegations of terrorism support among elected mayors. Critics argue that these appointments undermine local democracy and sideline voters’ choices, with rights groups labeling the moves “anti-democratic.”
Meanwhile, Mezopotamya also reported on Thursday that Dersim Dağ, a former lawmaker from the HDP, was detained at İstanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport.
The reason for her detention remains unclear.