DEM Party slams Çankaya Municipality operation as political, demands immediate halt

The DEM Party has strongly condemned an operation targeting the Çankaya Municipality, labeling it an "illegal seizure of will" and a political maneuver rather than a legal one. Co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan criticized the dawn raids and "baggage of allegations" against the municipality, questioning the contrast between recent statements on security and democracy at a NATO summit and the current actions.

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Another illegal seizure of will has been added. Raids are being carried out with baggage of allegations at dawn against Çankaya Municipality. Just two days ago in Ankara, grand words were spoken about security, democracy, and stability during the NATO summit. So is this the outcome now?

Bakırhan drew parallels to the government's past use of appointed trustees to seize control of elected bodies. "We know the system of seizing elected will from the trustees," he stated, emphasizing that such operations weaken democracy and that the judiciary's intervention must cease. He asserted that the elected mayor, Hüseyin Can Güner, belongs in his office, not in a detention cell.

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This operation is not legal, it is political; it must stop immediately. These operations weaken democracy. The judicial clampdown must stop. Hüseyin Can Güner's place is not in detention cells, but in the office entrusted to him by the people of Çankaya.

Echoing these sentiments, DEM Party Co-chair Tülay Hatimoğulları highlighted that the operation targets local democracy. She accused the ruling party of consistently undermining local governance through trustees, detentions, and political operations. Hatimoğulları described the operation against Çankaya Municipality and Güner's detention as a political strategy to encircle the public's will through the judiciary. She called for an end to this "siege" that extends from one municipality to another.

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The ruling party, which has been targeting local democracy for years with trustees, detentions, and political operations, continues its insistence on this understanding!