Following a decisive defeat for President Erdogan’s Justice and Development (AKP) Party on the ballot at Turkey’s local elections on March 31, the AKP government has selectively acted to contain the electoral damage.
On April 2 the elected mayor of Van province, Abdullah Zeydan of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, was removed from his post following an application to disqualify the candidate by Turkey’s Ministry of Justice fielded just two days before the election day.
The province’s electoral board approved and upheld the application to revoke his mayorship on April 2 appointing the AKP’s candidate, Abdullahat Arvas, in his place. Zeydan had secured 55.17% of the votes, while Arvas had only 27.91%.
Clashes broke out in the aftermath of the board’s decision between Zeydan’s supporters and police forces. Columns of police vehicles have reportedly entered the cities of Van, Hakkari, Sirnak and Diyarbakir as the Turkish government has announced a 15-day ban on all mass gatherings and demonstrations in Van.
Public footage also suggests that army units have accompanied police forces, filmed entering the city of Hakkari in the southeastern Siirt province, whose capital has been put under curfew:
The Turkish government has deployed military units into Hakkari (Colemerg) https://t.co/qYFXeOLOhr pic.twitter.com/gWjlC9a1Rm
— ScharoMaroof (@ScharoMaroof) April 2, 2024
Total curfew announced in the city Siirt/Sert
+multiple reports of large columns of police vehicles and civil-police vehicles entering the cities Van, Hakkari, Sirnak and Diyarbakir (Wan, Colemerg, Sirnex and Amed) – multiple reports of military units accompanying the deployment https://t.co/dKqSgIaYmi pic.twitter.com/g3lCS9RnNM
— ScharoMaroof (@ScharoMaroof) April 2, 2024
Local businesses in Van have also shut down today in protest:
VAN Büyük?ehir Belediyesi E?ba?kanl???n? kazanan Abdullah Zeydan'?n memnu hakk?n?n iadesinin AKP “talimat?yla” geri al?nmas? protesto ediliyor. Kentte esnaflar kepenk kapatt?, tüm sokaklarda protestolar ba?lad? https://t.co/i5HBpKpmug
— A.Rahman Gök (@arahmangok) April 2, 2024
Turkey’s Justice minister announced yesterday that a total of 89 protestors, accused of supporting terrorism and attacking police forces, have been arrested in the country’s southeastern provinces:
2 Nisan 2024 Sal? günü izinsiz gösteri yürüyü?ü yapan, Bölücü Terör Örgütüne yönelik övücü ve destekleyici slogan atan, güvenlik güçlerimize ta?la sald?ran ve uyar?lara ra?men da??lmay?p mukavemet gösteren;
?Van'da 2??6??
?Hakkari Yüksekova'da 2??9??
?Hakkari Merkez'de 9??…— Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) April 2, 2024
On a related note, the newly re-elected mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), accused the AKP of forcing an arbitrary recount of votes in the districts where the CHP.
Imamoglu took on X/Twitter to condemn the practice of selectively disputing the electoral results in districts
“When the AK Party wins the district, it is neither democracy nor manliness to refuse to count the votes again, and when the CHP wins, let’s count them again.”
Görünen o ki, iktidar demokratik süreçleri mertçe yönetmemeye kararl?. Seçimi CHP’nin kazand??? Gaziosmanpa?a ilçemizde bask?larla tüm oylar?n yeniden say?lmas?na karar verildi. Ayn? talepte bulundu?umuz Ümraniye ilçemizde ise talebimiz reddedildi. Pendik, Fatih, Arnavutköy ve…
— Ekrem ?mamo?lu (@ekrem_imamoglu) April 2, 2024
