Regarding the discussions on the new constitution, Bakırhan asked: "Will it eliminate the policies of rejection and denial? Will it accept the Kurds?" 

 

People's Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan attended the public meeting held in Dêrîk district together with the Metropolitan Municipality Co-mayor candidates and deputies in Mêrdîn, where he continues his visits.

 

Bakırhan and his entourage were welcomed by party members at the entrance of the district. Bakırhan and the Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor candidates, who entered the city accompanied by a convoy, greeted the people by making victory signs along the way.

 

Citizens went to the balconies and windows of their homes and the doors of their workplaces to greet those in the convoy. At the public meeting held in the town square, mothers wore their traditional kerchiefs and waved olive branches, the symbol of peace. At the meeting, the Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor candidates first greeted the public.

 

DEMIR: WE SET OUT TO SEND THE TRUSTEES

 

Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Candidate Devrim Demir said in her speech that they set out to achieve great success on March 31 and to take the will of the people from the hands of the trustees. Demir said: "Today, trustee is the definition of theft and corruption. It is misogyny. The system knows that women are pioneers. Today, the stance of the Kurd women is taken as an example everywhere."

 

TURK: WE MUST GIVE A STRONG RESPONSE

 

Other Co-Chair Candidate Ahmet Türk stated that great oppression and tyranny have been committed in the history of the Kurds and that the Kurds have paid a great price for their future. Turk said: “Today, the state's oppression is not only in Bakur, there is great oppression in Rojhilat, Rojava and 4 parts of Kurdistan. If we raise a strong voice and respond to these together, then we will achieve our goal."

 

Türk reminded the prisoner Kurd politicians and emphasized the ongoing hunger strikes in prisons for the freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Ocalan. Türk said: "Let's make our politics according to the prisoners in prison. We are sure that our people will give them the necessary answer on March 31. Some people tell me that their life expectancy is 80 years old and I will be in this struggle even if I am 180 years old." 

 

'WE PROMISE TO FIGHT'

 

Following the mayoral candidates, Co-Chair Tuncer Bakırhan addressed the public.

 

Reminding that 13 people were massacred in Derîk in the 90s, Bakırhan said: “Again, recently, 21 of our citizens were massacred because the truck carrying the materials of the 5-member gang that exploited our land and values had an accident due to lack of precautions. On this occasion, we remember with respect and gratitude all our companions who fought for democracy and are no longer with us today. We renew our promise to them once again from Derik. I promise that we will continue to carry on the flag that they never let go of until the Kurdish issue is resolved and the Kurds become equal citizens in this country."

 

'WE WILL GIVE THE ANSWER ON MARCH 31'

 

Drawing attention to the importance of the elections, Bakırhan said: “We will answer on March 31 that we continue our resistance against the tyrannical policies they have carried out so far and that we will definitely win. There is no need to explain the trustees anyway. It is an approach that commits theft and corruption, pockets the budget sent to the Kurds, gives it to supporters, ignores your values, removes the names of Apê Musas and Orhan Doğans from parks and streets, closes down women's institutions, hostile to women, nature, the Kurds and our culture. They thought that by appointing trustees they would distract the people of Dêrik from the struggle.”

 

'WE MADE THE PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE AGAINST JITEM ALLIANCE'

 

Pointing out that all the media is talking about the DEM Party, Bakırhan said: “If there was no DEM Party, what would you do, what would you discuss? If we remove the criticisms, curses and insults you made towards the DEM Party from your saddlebags, is there anything left? DEM Party is against those who commit injustice, those who commit corruption, those who steal and those who have criminal records. They are afraid. Let them be afraid! When the DEM Party comes, it will hold them accountable for all this. Their DEM syndrome will definitely end one day. All parties say that the DEM Party has made a secret alliance. Dear people, we promised you that whatever we would do, we would do it openly and transparently and we did the same. We set up the ballot box, you decided. We said we would cooperate within the framework of cooperation and urban reconciliation in the West and we did what we could. There is no alliance we make behind the scenes in dark corridors. But the alliance against us is the Gendarmerie Intelligence and anti-terror unit (JITEM) alliance. It is an alliance formed in the dark corridors of Ankara. Therefore, we made an alliance with the people of Turkey, workers, Alevis, Arabs, Turks, oppressed people and women against this alliance. So we made the people's alliance."

 

'ERDOGAN IS NOT MAKING AN ELECTION CAMPAIGN, HE IS PROMOTING AN ARMS FAIR'

 

Pointing out that Erdoğan is promoting the arms fair, Bakırhan said: “He is promoting cannons, rifles, UCAVs, aircraft and warships at the rally. It is very difficult to understand whether we are holding local elections or organizing an arms fair. Their eyes are not on service and democracy. The minds of those who usurp the will of the Kurds are in weapons, war and conflict. Their heads are on the prayer rug, their hands are in the sky, but their minds are in haram. We saw this with the usurpation of will through illegal voters. Mr. Erdoğan, this country does not need guns, cannons and rifles. If you had created conditions in Dêrik that would eliminate unemployment and poverty and where young people and women could work humanely, instead of investing the money and budget of the poor in Turkey into weapons, Turkey would be a model country in the Middle East. But their minds are always anti-Kurd. Hopefully, our people in Kurdistan and the West will teach the necessary lesson to those who make speeches such as promoting this arms fair, in Kurdistan and the West on March 31."

 

'IF WE WIN THE ELECTION, THE TREES WILL NOT BURN AND OUR PEOPLE WILL NOT BE EXILED'

 

Emphasizing that they will achieve many gains if they win the elections, Bakırhan continued his words as follows: "If we win this election, the trees will not burn, our people will not be exiled and we will have taken a very important step for the freedom of our comrades in prisons. On this occasion, I salute the hunger strike in prison. We reiterate once again that their will to end the isolation imposed on Mr. Ocalan is correct, that we are with them and that the Kurdish issue must be resolved with its real interlocutors. Time is DEM time, Time is people of Dêrik time, time is Freedom time."