RESPECT THE WILL OF PEOPLE OF VAN
2 April 2024
In the 31 March 2024 local elections, Abdullah Zeydan, the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) candidate for the mayorship of Van Metropolitan Municipality, applied to the Supreme Board of Elections (YSK) in April 2023 with a decision on the restitution of his rights and was accepted as a candidate for the mayorship. Upon the request of the Ministry of Justice and the objection of the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the decision of the Diyarbakır 5th High Criminal Court on the restoration of his rights to be elected was annulled by the same court merely two days before the local elections were to be held (on Friday, 29 March 2024), 5 minutes before the end of working hours (at 16.55), and it was learned that his right to be elected was usurped. On 31 March 2024, Abdullah Zeydan, who became the elected mayor of Van Metropolitan Municipality with 55.48% of the votes of the people of Van in the local elections, faced utterly unlawful conduct having the decision on the restitution of rights abolished, while the will of the people of Van was ignored. There are no legal grounds for this decision. The government, which has ignored the will of the Kurdish people for two terms by appointing trustees to their municipalities and arresting the elected co-mayors, has this time opted to maintain the trustee mentality by having the judiciary take decisions with the authority not given by the people.
The fact that Abdullah Zeydan, who completed the legal procedures and whose candidacy was accepted by the Supreme Board of Elections (YSK), was stripped of his office as mayor hours before the elections at the request of the Ministry of Justice on grounds that have no legal equivalent, and the certificate of election was granted to the AKP candidate, is also in violation of Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is unacceptable for human rights defenders that the principle “Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives” is suspended when the subject of this right is Kurds.
Democratic reactions and protests organized by the people against these unlawful acts and the usurpation of the will of the people of Van were intervened with police violence, tear gas bombs and rubber bullets, and many people were taken into custody facing police brutality. It was observed that Van shopkeepers had to close their workplaces due to police violence. In addition, DEM Party Van provincial building is blockaded, while no entry or exit is allowed.
Since 2016, there has been a blanket ban on street protests and events in Van, and with the usurpation of the will of the ballot box, the city has been blockaded by security forces and special operations police.
The people of Van have shown their strongest stance against trustee politics every time and revealed who they wanted to be governed by. A democratic state of law must respect the preferences of the people of Van who expressed their will at the ballot box despite all the pressures.
İHD calls on the government, the Supreme Board of Elections, and the judicial authorities:
Stop usurping the mayorships elected by the Kurdish people since 2016 with the “trustee mentality.”
Stop using police brutality against democratic reactions and protests organized by the people of Van against the usurpation of their will. Immediately take action against officials who inflicted violence on the people and those who instructed them to do so.
İHD calls on the government to immediately lift the police blockade on the streets of Van, to respect the will of the people as revealed by their votes in the ballot box, and invites the democratic public and social opposition to be sensitive to the “trustee mentality.”
HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION