MERSİN - Speaking at the trustee protest in front of Akdeniz Municipality, DEM Party MPs said, "The people will send the trustee back to where it came from".
The protests against the appointment of trustees to the municipality in Akdeniz district of Mersin is on its 7th day. Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) MPs and civil society organizations made a statement in front of the municipality building under police blockade.
DEM Party Sêrt (Siirt) MP Sebahat Erdoğan pointed to the blockade in front of the municipality, "The will of the Kurdish people has been usurped once again. No one should shout brotherhood to us because what they are doing does not fit into brotherhood." said Sebahat Erdoğan and added, "The Kurdish people have never kneeled before you. They have come to this day by resisting. Those who usurped the municipality usurped not only the will of Kurds, but the will of all peoples. Every attack on Kurds affects the whole of Turkey. Kurdish enmity causes everyone to lose. Our friends will be among us one day and will take up their duties. Your trustee will be sent back to where he came from by the people. We will be the winners."
DEM Party Mêrdîn (Mardin) MP George Aslan reminded the oppression and village burnings in the 1990s and the budget spent on the war. "You thought that people would assimilate when you took them out of their villages. But you failed. Mersin is an example of this. This people did not give up saying peace against all your attacks," George Aslan said.
Aslan continued, "Everyone who wants to do politics in the Middle East is in contact with the Kurds. If you want to take this people with you, you will become a leader in the Middle East. But if you attack, you will get nowhere. Since 1 October, some steps have been taken. This is good, but while these steps are being taken, appointing trustees and attacking Rojava show that you are not sincere. This people have not and will not bow down to you until today. Withdraw your trustees and reinstate those elected by the will of the people."
The statement ended with a sit-in protest. The slogans "We will win if we resist" and "Jin, jiyan, azadi (Woman, life, freedom)" were frequently chanted.