The decision of the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court of Appeals on the restitution of divested rights of Wan Metropolitan Municipality Co-mayor Abdullah Zeydan was overturned by the Court of Cassation. The Court sent the file to Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court and asked for a new decision after the necessary examinations. 

 

Wan Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayors Neslihan Şedal and Abdullah Zeydan evaluated the decision of the Court of Cassation and the next process to Mezopotamya Agency (MA).

 

Zeydan stated that the fact that the verdict was served to the partisan media before it was communicated to them was an indication that the verdict was a political decision far from the law, "We understand that this process is not a legal process and that a justice mechanism is not in operation," he said. 

 

'GIVE UP THIS UNLAWFUL ATTEMPT'

 

Zeydan reminded that the court had ruled for the return of the rights to be restored and the decision had been finalised, but 2 days before the election, the court had issued a new decision cancelling this decision, and underlined that the court had set up a trap for a person running for election. Zeydan said: "With this Supreme Court decision and the decision one day before the election, we see that there is a trap set by the judiciary, a conspiracy against a person who will enter the election. Our people have embraced their own party with great favour. Ther embraced our co-mayors and won all 14 municipalities for our party, but they could not digest this success. They tried to take away the people's right to vote and be elected by setting up a conspşracy against law and justice. In this attempt to usurp the mandate, the people defended their own will, their own law, justice and democracy with great honour and a magnificent resistance. Our expactation is that the government and the judiciary should give up these unlawful attempts by making just decisions and respect whe will of the people."

 

Zeydan said that instead of respecting the law, they resorted to other means and said, government trying to conspire against the will of the people of Wan by circumventing the law and setting traps. 

 

'WE WILL SHOW ALL OUR DEMOCRATIC REACTION'

 

Zeydan said that they have always protected the will of the people until today and they will continue to protect it, "Because one of the most important facts and pillars of democracies is the will of the people, elections. We will protect the will of the people until the end and we will not accept this unlawfulness. We will show our democratic right and democratic reaction together with our people until the end. We hope that the local court will correct this decision in favour of the defendant. Because otherwise it would be a scandalous decision."

 

Stating that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had ruled a violation in the prison sentence given to him, Zeydan emphasised that they had submitted the ECHR's judgements to the Constitutional Court and the Court of Cassation, but they were ignored.

 

'WE PERCEIVE AKP'S ATTEMPT TO GIVE THE MANDATE TO ITS CANDIDATE'

 

Zeydan said that this decision was an attempt to overthrow the will of the people of Wan and continued as follows: "The thefts and corruption committed by the trustee for 8 years are obvious. Our services for 8 months are also obvious. By placing the limited means at the disposal of our people, we have done services that have not been done for 8 years, we have made the municipalities the municipalities of the people. We will not give the opportunity to the mentality that tries to take over the municipalities of the people. In particular, we personally hear that the AKP is attempting to give the certificate of election to its candidate again and that they are carrying out such a process. I hope they will not make such a mistake again and attempt to attack the will of the people. Because the people of Wan showed with the 2-3 April resistance that they will not accept this."

 

'AKP CAN RESORT TO ANY KIND OF LAWLESSNESS'

 

AKP government can resort to all kinds of lawlessness as it has done for 22 years said Co-mayor Neslihan Şedal and added: "When it comes to the Kurdish people, when it comes to the Kurdish people's right to vote and be elected, when it comes to the Kurdish people's self-governance, we know that these attacks are carried out in a much different and much more unique way. There is also such a truth. We also heard about this issue yesterday when the partisan media served it. The fact that such a decision was served to the media without being notified to both our co-mayors and their lawyers shows how the decision was taken. The decision of the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation on the release of our co-mayor's deprived rights actually shows how the process itself is an unlawful process."

 

Neslihan Şedal stated that the AKP is weakened and the trustee policy had an effect on this, and the most concrete example of this was that the AKP could not win any of the 14 municipalities in Wan. Neslihan Şedal expressed the following: "Actually, the best photo of how far the AKP has fallen behind came out from here. But the AKP had set their eyes on Wan two days before the election and decided that they would carry out this usurpation. But the people's democratic reaction, the people's embrace of their party in the person of the co-mayors, and their embrace of democratic politics ultimately brought about a great victory. Although it is guaranteed by the constitution, every individual's right to vote and be elected faces great lawlessness and antidemocratic practices when it comes to Kurds."

 

'IT IS AN ATTACK ON OUR PARADIGM'

 

Neslihan Şedal stated that the attack is an attack on the democratic, ecological and women's libertarian paradigm they want to implement and that they are based on a municipalism model where all peoples can live together in a dignified, free and democratic way and solve social problems within this perspective.

 

Neslihan Şedal said that the AKP has turned the trustee regime into a form of governance for 3 terms, and that this regime has not gained anything for anyone, but has made the AKP lose. Neslihan Şedal said: "The AKP, which tries to keep itself alive through so-called religion, which has brought itself to this day by exploiting the belief and religious values of the people, is now defending the greatest unscrupulousness, the practices of collapsing the labour of rights, collapsing the will of the people, which is not in any moral, any belief system. More precisely, we can see how the values it cannot defend are being attacked. We also saw this in Esenyurt. We have seen how many different identities, different beliefs, different nationalities, races and people's desire to live together freely have been struck. We saw this again in Batman and Mardin. It is necessary to express that this trustee practice is actually an attack on the peoples' desire to live together."

 

'USURPING THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE WILL NOT BE SO EASY'

 

Neslihan Şedal stated that the AKP's polarising and oppressive rule creates anxiety in the society and continued as follows: "While solving the problems of the peoples, ultimately becomes very concrete in local government, we have seen very well how the resources used to basic policiy to continue with the politics of plunder and usurping the will of the people. We have promised these people not during the election process, but since the day we took part in this struggle. We have stated every time that we will protect their rights and their labour. It is necessary to express from here that usurping the will of the people will not be so easy; that they will not be able to come and sit in those seats waving their hands and arms, that they will not be able to squat on the labour of this people, that they will not be able to loot the resources of this people to their own cronies again."

 

'OUR PEOPLE WILL NOT HAND OVER THEIR INSTITUTIONS TO PLUNDERERS'

 

"We will protect the gains of the people until the end," said Neslihan Şedal and added: "The people of Wan are patriotic. The people of Wan are a resistant people who protect their labour. We also saw this in the seizure of the certificate of election. The people claimed their own will. From here, we once again call out to the people of Wan; We once again express that they should protect their own will and not surrender their own institutions to these gangs and plunderers."

 

MA / Adnan Bilen – Ruken Polat