News Center- People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) municipal council members of Hakkari held a press conference on Friday at the building of the party in Hakkari, announcing that Viyan Tekçe has been elected as deputy mayor of Hakkari by receiving a majority of votes.

 The people of Hakkari had clearly demonstrated their attitude against fraud and tyranny in the 31 March local elections, said the declaration released by the municipal council members. “Law is not implemented in Hakkari. Law is not implemented for Kurds. Resorting to the method of usurpation through trustees, which has long been tried but has not yielded any results, and has been proven to cause damage, brings with it great irresponsibility for today's Türkiye. Equipping the second century of the Republic with antidemocratic practices and methods like the first century undermines the hope and construction of a democratic Turkey. The demand of people is obvious; a Türkiye, where democracy prevails, law is supreme and people govern themselves; a free life for Kurds, Turks and all other ethnic and religious groups. What is important for us is our people. Our greatest responsibility is to defend the mandate of will given by our people to our council members. Knowing this responsibly, we came together with our Hakkari municipal council members today and made some decisions to defend the will of the people of Hakkari. The municipal council members have elected a deputy co-mayor by a majority of votes due to the removal of our Hakkari Municipality Co-Mayor Mehmet Sıddık Akış from office.

‘We will continue to resist until our struggle ends in victory’

“Those who usurped those seats by hiding behind tens of thousands of soldiers and police officers will not be recognized by the people and will be remembered with shame throughout history. The will of the people of Hakkari is the elected co-mayors, Mehmet Sıddık Akış and Viyan Tekçe. The will of the people is the elected municipal council members. This will is going to always be here and will continue to protect the rights of the people. We will continue to resist until our struggle ends in victory.”

After the declaration was read, Viyan Tekçe, deputy Co-mayor of Hakkari made a short speech. “We are on the 5th day of the coup against our people,” she said. “The trial against Mehmet Sıddık Akış is a trick and conspiracy trial. This government does not recognize laws. It should reverse its decision and our co-mayor should be reinstated. The municipality is just a building for us. Until the next local elections, we will be with our people and serve them. We promise this to our people. We carried out our election campaign and made great efforts despite difficult conditions. We will never give up and we are here standing with our people.”