What is the reason for the street protests in Van, Türkiye?

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency, the municipal elections in Turkey ended almost without a margin. . But now and three days after the election, the situation in several Turkish cities is not normal. The announcement of the curfew in Van, the tension and conflict between the people and the police in the city of Van, as well as the death of one person during the fight between supporters of two parties, are some of the post-election events in Turkey, and some local authorities are actually fueling insecurity.

Evidences show that Turkey’s Justice and Development Party, led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, still hasn’t gotten over the shock of the big defeat. After 22 years, this party fell to the rank of the second party in Turkey for the first time. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the leader of the ruling party and the president of Turkey, announced on the night of the election and after the vote count was announced, that the opinions He respects the people of his country and has received the message of the people. But now the evidence shows that many provincial branches, as well as the officials of the Ministry of Interior, are not willing to accept failure and are looking for solutions to compensate at least a part of the failure.

Supporters of the Justice and Development Party in Parvari region started a big street fight with the supporters of Ali Babajan, a politician critical of the government, and in this fight, one person was killed and five others were injured.

In the city At a critical border point between Turkey and Syria, Hatay, the candidate supported by the Justice and Development Party, was declared the winner with a small margin of votes, and Özgur Özel, the leader of the People’s Republic Party, announced that this person won with extensive violations of the Justice and Development Party. It is necessary to recount Hatai’s votes.

Tensions have also occurred in Batlis and Sharnak and it has been determined that the local authorities under the orders of the Erdogan government and the Justice and Development Party, using government facilities, illegally voted for the military and some Other violations have paved the way for the victory of the Erdogan-backed candidate. But the events of Van are more complicated than other election tensions, and apparently the local authorities do not shy away from violations and starting street riots. With a biased and biased point of view, he interfered in Van’s affair and is fueling a serious disaster. We all must respect the people’s vote and the law. This behavior of the Ministry of Justice and local authorities is unacceptable”.
On Monday and the day after the election, everything suddenly went awry and the governor’s office announced that the winner has no right to go to work as mayor. The provincial branch of Turkey’s Supreme Election Board has announced that Abdullah Zidan is a criminal and has no right to participate in elections according to the law, and his statements in several public speeches are an example of a threat to Turkey’s national security, support for the PKK terrorist group, and promotion of separatism. It was a request.

This is while Zidane had served his sentence and was officially a candidate for the election. However, in the last minutes of administration on Friday, the day when the next day was a holiday and elections were held the day after tomorrow, the Supreme Council revoked Zidane’s right to run for office and announced on Monday that he has no right to be the mayor. The publication of this news brought hundreds of young Zidane fans from their homes to the streets and a street fight took place.

The events that happened in the city of Kurdistan Van in the east of Turkey, once again evoked the memories of street clashes between people and the police and the throwing of tear gas. That is, the conflicts related to the years when Öcalan’s supporters chanted against the government in the street and the riot police attacked them. .K, had passed those times, but now after several years, once again, tension and conflict engulfed the streets of Van. The Democracy and Equality Party or “Dem Party” managed to defeat the candidate supported by the Justice and Development Party with a large margin of votes. However, the representative of the Supreme Election Board in Van province refused to give Zidan the permission to start working as a mayor, and to the utter disbelief, this document, which holds the key to the mayorship, was entrusted to a person whose name has been announced as a failed candidate. .

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In the elections related to the election of the mayor of Van metropolis, Abdullah Zeidan won nearly 56% of the votes, but the key to the mayorship was given to the pro-Erdogan Kurdish politician Abdulahed Arwas. He got only 27% of the votes.

Following this incident, massive street protests took place and the efforts of the police and security forces to calm Zidane’s supporters did not go anywhere, and tear gas was fired and chased. The escape of the protestors once again made Van restless. Turkish reporters yesterday in Ankara asked Omar Celik, the spokesman of the Justice and Development Party, to announce the opinion of his respective party on the events in Van.

Çelik said about these events: “The local authorities and the representative of the Supreme Election Board in Van province have acted at their own discretion and based on the citations they have, they have decided to revoke the permission of the person in question to compete in the election.” This decision is entirely within the authority of the board and we will not interfere in it.”

Istanbul Mayor Akram Imamoglu, People’s Republic Party leader Ozger Ozel, Good Party Secretariat, Leap and Democracy Party leader Ali Babajan have condemned the action of the Van Governorate and want Zidane to stop his activities as mayor.

Also, Salaheddin Demirtash, the former cellmate of Abdullah Zidan and the former leader of the Peace and Democracy Party, published a message from Edirne prison about the events in Van and said in it: “In the election scene, our people They enlightened in every sense and delivered their message. But it is obvious that those who still do not respect the determined will of the people have not learned the necessary lessons. Some are still looking for provocative actions. Mr. President, I am addressing you from here, you announced on the election night that you respect the will of the people and you have received this message. Unfortunately, what happened in the bathtub is not compatible with your messages. This is not the way to respect the will of the people. Neither God nor people accept this. We expect you to stop this illegal process”.

Demirtash further called for the continuation of protests and wrote: “We ask all our people, especially the people of Van and all pro-democracy forces and political parties to Stand against this illegality. This is not a time of tension and conflict, but a time of peace. All politicians and those who run the country should listen to the voice of the Kurdish people. Our people will stand until the end and defend their will against oppression”.

Abdullah Zidan, who was elected by the people as the mayor of Van metropolis, has been engaged in political activity for many years and is one of the supporters. Abdullah Öcalan is known as the imprisoned leader of the PKK terrorist group. His father and brother have already been members of parliament and he himself once entered the parliament as a member of parliament, but after a short period of time, his legal immunity was revoked on the charge of acting against Turkey’s national security, and he spent several years in Edirne alongside Salah. Eddin Dimertash was imprisoned. Although Demirtas remains in prison, Zidan was released and in the recent elections, he managed to get a high number of votes from the people of Van.

Repetition of the events of 2019

In the 2019 elections, a significant number of municipalities in the Kurdish regions fell into the hands of the Peace and Democracy Party. However, the Ministry of Interior dismissed all the mayors and appointed people from the government and the Justice and Development Party as “guardians” and trusted supervisors of the government in these areas.

Despite widespread opposition. Erdogan’s opposition parties did not change the government’s decision regarding this action, and the vote of Kurdish citizens in 105 small and large municipalities in the south and southeast of Turkey was practically ignored. It seems that with what happened in Van, this old strategy of the Justice and Development Party has been put on the table once again. It remains to be seen whether this will happen in other Kurdish cities or not.

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