The former pro-PKK Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) mayor of Batman in southeastern Turkey has provided assistance to YPG/PKK terrorists in Syria through a nongovernmental organization (NGO), according to the bill of indictment.
Former Mayor Mehmet Demir, who was detained in March, sent assistance to YPG/PKK terrorists in Syria’s Qamishli, acting upon orders of the terrorists, a bill of indictment prepared by Batman Prosecutor’s Office said.
The indictment was based on evidence showing Demir’s phone calls, in which he discussed sending assistance to the YPG/PKK in Qamishli through an NGO, who would distribute the supplies to PKK terrorists.
Some 275 individuals Demir spoke to between Jan. 1, 2019, and Feb. 18, 2020, were charged with terror offenses, the indictment said.
The mayor was also charged with unlawfully sharing his post with so-called co-mayor Songül Korkmaz, in line with orders from the PKK.
On March 13, Korkmaz and Demir also forced people in the Bağlar neighborhood to chant slogans in favor of terrorist ringleader Abdullah Öcalan and recorded it.
Demir also dismissed all staff hired during the trustee period, including family members of police, soldiers and village guards, and ordered the municipality to hire pro-HDP staff instead, according to documents obtained from his offices.
The HDP has many times drawn fire for transferring taxpayer money and funds to the PKK, a globally recognized terrorist group. HDP mayors and local officials have been found to misuse funds in support of the PKK terrorist group and provide jobs to PKK sympathizers.
Its mayors have also been accused of undermining municipal services, allowing the PKK to dig trenches in the streets and launch attacks on police and soldiers when the terrorist group adopted an urban warfare strategy in July 2015, thereby ending a two-year reconciliation period. HDP municipalities and their staff were also found to be actively participating in terrorist attacks launched after July 2015.
As a result, Turkey has removed the elected administrations in at least 93 municipalities across the region for their links to the terrorist group and appointed trustees to these municipalities in 2016 in the aftermath of the coup attempt launched by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
Municipalities run by the HDP helped terrorists in various towns and cities dig trenches and erect barricades, which were manned by local sympathizers and young people. Mainly deployed in the southeastern Diyarbakır, Şırnak and Mardin provinces, this strategy led to the destruction of entire neighborhoods in numerous clashes, with most of the damage inflicted on Şırnak's city center and in the districts of Sur, Cizre and Nusaybin.
However, the strategy collapsed due to successful anti-terrorist operations and a lack of cooperation from locals in the region. Cities suffered significant damage during the operations. Since then, the government has invested huge amounts of money to restore infrastructure and public services in the region.