Two officials of the opposition Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) are facing an investigation over their controversial remarks. The Interior Ministry announced on Thursday that legal proceedings were underway over statements by the party’s co-chair, Tuncer Bakırhan, and the head of its branch in the southeastern province of Mardin, Mehmet Mehdi Tunç.
The two men drew criticism for their separatist, provoking remarks as they protested the appointment of trustees to three DEM Party-run municipalities earlier this week. Mayors of municipalities were sacked after they were convicted of membership of the PKK terrorist group. The DEM Party is known for its intricate links to the group, which has been responsible for the deaths of thousands since the 1980s. The party launched protests in the southeast and its supporters confronted police in violent riots.
Bakırhan told a crowd of supporters in a rally in Mardin that Kurds would do "what Seyit Rıza, Şeyh Said, Sakine did," referring to controversial historical figures and one of the founders of the PKK. The PKK claims to fight for Kurdish self-rule and draws recruits from the community. Seyit Rıza and Şeyh Said were prominent Kurds who were executed by the state for their alleged role in "Kurdish" rebellions in the early years of the Republic of Türkiye.
Social media users called on authorities to launch an investigation into the remarks of Bakırhan, while some labeled the DEM Party as an "internal security problem" over the remarks of Bakırhan.
Tunç, in remarks to a PKK-related TV station, has stated that their resistance to the appointment of trustees would continue. "The people of Mardin will set up its own court (to try trustees)," he said in threatening remarks, urging trustees to leave "Kurdistan," the name the PKK uses for Türkiye’s southeastern region.
Earlier this week, security forces rounded up dozens of people as DEM Party supporters took to the streets against the appointment of trustees. Throughout Monday, pro-DEM Party crowds tried to force their way into the municipality buildings in the southeastern Turkish provinces of Mardin and Batman and the district of Halfeti in Şanlıurfa. In addition to the southeast, violent protests spread to Istanbul, where riot police struggled to contain the unruly crowds in the district of Esenyurt.
Authorities issued a 10-day ban on gatherings in Batman, Mardin, Halfeti, and other southeastern provinces and towns against possible riots, but crowds defied the ban. In Batman, at least 75 people were detained for violating the ban. Among them was a group of suspects who hurled stones at police taking security measures. Trustee appointments also led to quarrels in meetings of several municipal assemblies across Türkiye. DEM Party representatives and representatives of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which threw its support behind the former against appointments, disrupted meetings on Monday, criticizing the government. In Istanbul’s Kağıthane district, two people were injured in a brawl between CHP and DEM Party supporters and assembly members from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).