"Even during the current Covid-19 pandemic, which has hit Turkey very hard, we have been receiving reports about ongoing suspensions of elected mayors in communities in the south-east of the country and their replacement by state-appointed trustees," he said in a written statement today (May 19). 

 

"As a consequence, a significant number of municipalities concerned are currently run by state appointees and not by those who were elected on 31 March 2019," Knape added.

 

The Ministry of Interior on May 15 replaced co-mayors of five municipalities with trustees. After this move, 45 out of 65 municipalities won by the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the local elections in March 2019 have come under the control of the ministry. The co-mayors were detained shortly after being dismissed from their posts and two of them were remanded in custody on "terrorism-related" charges.

 

"As I have said on similar occasions before, the excessive use of legal proceedings against local elected representatives and their replacement by state-appointed officials is not only an affront to those who stand up for free and fair elections, it is also a serious and permanent threat to the proper functioning of local democracy in Turkey," he further noted.

 

"In hindsight of the 2019 local elections, the Congress requested a legal opinion of the Council of Europe Venice Commission on a number of decisions regarding elected candidates and mayors taken after this vote in the south-east of Turkey and we are waiting with a great interest for this opinion to be published", Knape concluded.

 

According to the Law No. 5393 on Municipalities, the Ministry of Interior has the authority to suspend a mayor if there is a criminal investigation against him or her until the investigation is concluded.