2024-04-02T13:38:11+00:00
A-
A
A+
/ Van Governorate, (with a Kurdish majority), eastern Turkey, witnessed tension during the past hours after a decision to strip an elected Kurdish mayor of his rights, based on an objection from the Ministry of Justice.
Mayor Abdullah Zidane won the municipal elections two days ago, and after running for the Equality and Peoples’ Democracy Party, he won 55.48 percent of the votes in Van, equivalent to about 245,000 votes.
After the decision to strip him of his right, the election certificate was granted to Abdullah Arvas, the candidate of the ruling Justice and Development Party, according to media reports.
The Equality and Peoples’ Democracy Party (Dem) issued a statement saying that they “reject the decision.”
While he described what happened as a “political coup,” he promised to continue the protests until it is undone.
Following a call to protest, the police intervened to confront Zidane and his supporters with pepper spray and tear gas.
The Kurdish party’s statement said, “The decision that was taken by a majority vote of the members of the Regional Election Council of Van Province is illegal and illegitimate, and is not considered the will of the people.”
He called on the Supreme Elections Commission to put an end to “this lawlessness and recognize the will of our people.”
In 2016, the Fifth Supreme Criminal Court in Diyarbakir sentenced Zidan to 5 years in prison on charges of “aiding” the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is anti-Ankara, and 3 years, one month and 15 days on charges of “propaganda” for the party.
After that, his sentence was reduced to 3 years, and he was released by decision issued on January 6, 2023, taking into account the time he had served.
With an administrative decision and a letter issued on March 29, 5 minutes before the end of official working hours, the Ministry of Justice objected to the rights granted to Zidane in 2022.
This came after the Supreme Election Commission accepted his candidacy for the municipal position.
Zidane is accused of “propaganda for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party,” and accounts on social media circulated on Tuesday an old video recording of him, in which he says: “The Kurdistan Workers’ Party will drown you with its spit.”
Turkey classifies the Workers’ Party as a “terrorist organization” and has been waging bloody confrontations with it for decades.