The reaction against the appointment of a trustee to the Colemêrg Municipality and the arrest of Municipality Co-Mayor Mehmet Sıddık Akış continues with protests. Mersin Yenişehir Municipality Council member and lawyer İbrahim Cinbaş, a member of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), made evaluations about the legal dimension of the usurpation of will.

 

Cinbaş stated that the way for the appointment of trustees to municipalities was paved with the Decree Laws issued during the State of Emergency (OHAL) declared in 2016, but he said that the regulations made are not legal. 

 

Advocate İbrahim Cinbaş

 

Referring to the Municipality Law No. 5393, Cinbaş said: “Articles 45 and 46 of the Law clearly explain the legal process that must be carried out in case a mayor takes a decision. There is a regulation that municipal council members can elect a mayor among themselves. The relevant provisions of the Constitution are actually provisions that fundamentally protect the right to vote and be elected. The Constitution is not a restrictive clause. Of course, being a state requires regulating what to do against a person who commits a crime. However, so far we have not seen trustees appointed to any party other than the People's Democratic Party (HDP) tradition. It is obvious that this is not a legal decision. It's a political decision. It is impossible to fit this situation into a legal framework. Apart from anything else, it is an intervention in the right to choose of every individual who has voted. This is not just an intervention against the mayor. It should be considered as an injustice to everyone who voted for that mayor."

 

'A LEGAL TRAP'

 

Cinbaş said that Co-Mayor Mehmet Sıddık Akış accused of political activities and stated the following: “Akış's investigation is a legal trap prepared on a file that has no concrete basis. You put a person in front of people to be elected, that person manages the election process, works, his party works for him. As a result, he somehow wins the election. Then they say 'you cannot be mayor'. It is clear in every aspect that this is not a legal situation. We see that the cost of doing politics is very high for the Kurds. The people show their reaction against this at the ballot box. Especially in other municipalities in Turkey, especially in municipalities won through 'urban consensus', all elected officials outside the DEM Party tradition must react to this. What is done to the people of Hakkari today can be done to all of us tomorrow. There is no end to this lawlessness. This needs to be raised loudly. Because at the end of this, we will go to an environment where elections will become meaningless for the whole of Turkey.”

 

'THE PEOPLE'S ANSWER IS CLEAR'

 

Pointing out that the government media tried to "terrorize" municipal activities, "The people are in poverty and struggling with serious problems. I think the government should understand that the answer given by the people is very clear. All democratic public opinion should also express their reaction in this sense" Cinbaş said.