The Interior Ministry has suspended Ayvaz Hazır, the co-mayor of Van's Bahçesaray district, from office following a court ruling against him.
The ministry announced that Harun Arslanargun, the district governor of Bahçesaray, has been appointed as acting mayor in Hazır’s place.
Hazır, a member of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, was on Nov 29 convicted of "committing crimes on behalf of a terrorist organization without being a member" and sentenced to three years and 11 months in prison. He was removed from office hours later.
Hazır denounced the decision as politically motivated, claiming, "If I weren’t a co-mayor, I would have been acquitted." He told Mesopotamya Agency (MA) that the conviction was imposed under external pressures, saying, “The judge didn’t make this decision independently. It was a result of coercion and instructions.”
Hazır emphasized that his conviction stemmed from attending a public demonstration in his former role as a press member at the municipality, where he took photographs. “Nine years later, after becoming co-mayor, a political decision was made to sentence me in a case where I didn’t expect any punishment,” he said.
The DEM Party has launched protests following Mayor Hazır’s dismissal, with party members, co-mayors, and municipal council members staging a vigil outside the municipal hall. They also organized a protest march yesterday.
2024 municipal takeovers
Following the 2024 local elections, the government took over several municipalities controlled by the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party and the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), citing terrorism-related court verdicts and criminal investigations against them.
The first municipality that the government took over was the Hakkari city on June 4 due to "terrorism" charges against Mayor Mehmet Sıddık Akış.
On Oct 31, The Interior Ministry replaced the mayor of İstanbul's Esenyurt district, run by the CHP, citing a "terrorism" investigation into the mayor. This was followed on Nov 4 by the removal of the mayors of the cities of Mardin and Batman, and Urfa's Halfeti district, controlled by the DEM Party, on the grounds of ongoing "terrorism-related" criminal cases against them. The ministry has appointed governors and district governors as trustees in the place of the mayors.
The DEM Party won 11 cities among 75 municipalities in the 2024 polls. With the most recent takeovers, the DEM has lost four cities and two districts whereas the CHP has lost two districts.
Under Turkish law, the interior ministry has the authority to suspend mayors under criminal investigation, appointing trustees to act in their stead. The trustee has the authority to dissolve municipal councils, legislative bodies of municipalities, which are separately elected bodies typically composed of members from various political parties.
The government widely implemented trustee policies during the period of state of emergency following a failed coup in 2016, taking over almost all municipalities run by the HDP, the successor of the DEM Party, in the country’s Kurdish-populated regions. The party regained the municipalities in the 2019 election by winning the elections in 65 municipal areas, including eight cities. However, all but five district and town municipalities were eventually taken over by the government in the following months, citing “terrorism” investigations and cases against the mayors.
(VK)
