It was alleged that a list of 3,000 names was created so far to replace elected headmen with appointed trustees. According to the incoming information, the number of headmen to be replaced by a trustee might increase to 5,000 or 6,000, including the villages and neighborhoods.
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) won the last local elections with relative success in 3 metropolitans, 8 provinces, and 56 districts/towns. But the outcome was not as it was declared on the day of election by the Supreme Election Committee. The government has appointed trustees, starting from the metropolitan municipalities, ousting elected mayors over alleged `terror` links. The mayors were not only suspended but also arrested and put in prisons due to the charges of having links to the terrorist group YPG/PKK.
A de facto state of emergency
Turkey has met with the `trustee` phenomenon before the so-called July 2016 coup attempt. Then, it continued with the state of emergency created after July 15. The pretext is always the same, resourcing terrorism or associating with terrorism. Although the state of emergency has been officially abolished, its powers are above the current situation. Turkey encounters a severe state of the emergency period even though the state of emergency is de jure no more. Everything is executed through the Ministry of the Interior at the behest of the palace.
After the last election, the AKP regime mortgaged to the will of the people through trustees. The HDP has won 67 municipalities so far, nevertheless, 24 trustees have been appointed to the municipalities, including HDP’s most important municipalities. Extorting the will of the electorate with the trustees, the government makes the calculations of lowering the oppression to the lower level.
Next in line are headmen
It was alleged that a list of 3,000 names was created so far to replace elected headmen with appointed trustees. According to the incoming information, the number of headmen to be replaced by a trustee might increase to 5,000 or 6,000, including the villages and neighborhoods.
Almost all of the trustees that are supposed to be appointed to the headman posts are to replace headmen elected in the Eastern and Southeastern regions. The list also includes the village and neighborhood headmen in the west. The headmen criticizing the government are targeted on the pretext of `terror links`. The ruling party will appoint pro-government people to the headman posts in the villages and neighborhoods as a trustee. Sometimes a teacher or an officer may be decided as trustee and AKP provincial and district organizations will determine it.