Turkey
AKP candidate Mehmet Halis Bilden (left) speaking to Rudaw on March 12, 2023. DEM Party candidate Dogan Hatun (right) on March 13, 2023.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - As Turkey is set to vote in its crucial local elections at the end of the month, Rudaw sat down with the candidates of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and of the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) running for the mayor position in Diyarbakir (Amed).
DEM Party’s Dogan Hatun told Rudaw’s Mashallah Dakak on Wednesday that he vowed to protect Kurdish heritage and language in the city, as well as ending the state-imposed trusteeship in place since 2016.
In a separate interview on Tuesday, his AKP rival, Mehmet Halis Bilden, has promised mega projects including setting up a tram and encouraging investments in what he called an "improved security" situation.
Hatun criticized the trusteeship imposed by the AKP in the last eight years on Diyarbakir, a predominantly Kurdish city, decrying the impact this has had on Kurdish culture and language.
"The promise we have made is that if we could not establish a foothold for Kurdish language, culture and arts, we would not agree to run the city," Hatun, who is an experienced engineer, said.
In the interview, he showed a whisk broom he claimed to have received from a voter who asked him to clean the city of corruption and “dirt.”
"We will keep this whisk broom for the next five years, so that our minds will not become dirty, either."
The pro-Kurdish party has won the Diyarbakir mayor post since 1999 under different political names. The AKP removed the then-elected mayor in 2016 and installed a government appointee to run the city ever since.
Hatun said the trustee system is not only wrong and bad for the local democracy, he went on to say that the AKP have also realized they made a mistake. He explained that running Kurdish areas through unelected officials has always been a characteristic of the Turkish state,one that does not please the voters.
Dozens of elected pro-Kurdish mayors in Turkey have been stripped of their offices over the years and replaced with state-linked trustees (administrators) due to their alleged links with the Kurdish rebels.
Bilden, also an engineer by profession, said that while he is not supporter of the trusteeship system, he claims that the government does not have an alternative but to fight what he described as “terror,” in reference to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Asked whether the party would reinstate the trustee if it does not emerge victorious in the elections, Bilden said he did not know if that would be the case, but said he remained confident that he would win.
For Hatun, the election is about reclaiming what he called the Kurdish spirit of the city, an issue that he said they are ready to "die for".
"Amed is our capital and has to remain the Kurdish capital for the next 1,000 years," he said using the Kurdish name for Diyarbakir. He did not rule out holding a referendum to ask the voters if the people wanted to use the Kurdish name for the city. He added the party would use “Amed” when referring to the city municipality in Kurdish.
"It would be a shame if we could not return Amed's name."
"We also have to ensure Kurdish language becomes spoken again...to [return] Kurdish names to neighborhoods and alleys. "
Some of the AKP's trustees removed Kurdish writing in their municipalities, rolling back some of the changes brought about by the pro-Kurdish party.
He vowed to also provide Kurdish education to the city's Kurdish population.
"The Kurdish schools that used to teach Kurdish, we are going to open them again. We are going to open schools and kindergartens in all 17 neighborhoods. This is not just a mere [election] promise, it is our responsibility."
However, Bilden claimed the Kurdish language is used in public areas, reminding the people that Kurdish language was previously banned.
"I am Kurdish, native of the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir," Bilden said as he spoke Kurdish with a Rudaw team. He invited people to send their children to the elective Kurdish class. He claimed, however, that people are not interested.
He said the fact that he belongs to the ruling party and that he served in different Turkish municipalities, including in Istanbul when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was then the mayor, he could provide services and bring prosperity to Diyarbakir.
He claimed that 100 factories would like to have a presence in Diyarbakir but have not done so because of the security situation, adding that now the province is "very nice and suitable" to invite these factories, as well as to boost tourism.
He said that he is planning to introduce a tram system in the south eastern province where an estimated two million live.
Bilden said that he would seek a loan from Ankara and global banks to pay for the project "interest free".
Osman Baydemir, the now exiled pro-Kurdish politician who was Dirarbakir's mayor from 2004-2014 first planned to open the tram system in the city. Although he could secure foreign investment for the plan, the central government did not consent to provide the required guarantee for a foreign investment.
Hatun and Bilden both said the tram system is a must and is long overdue.
DEM Party’s Dogan Hatun told Rudaw’s Mashallah Dakak on Wednesday that he vowed to protect Kurdish heritage and language in the city, as well as ending the state-imposed trusteeship in place since 2016.
In a separate interview on Tuesday, his AKP rival, Mehmet Halis Bilden, has promised mega projects including setting up a tram and encouraging investments in what he called an "improved security" situation.
Hatun criticized the trusteeship imposed by the AKP in the last eight years on Diyarbakir, a predominantly Kurdish city, decrying the impact this has had on Kurdish culture and language.
"The promise we have made is that if we could not establish a foothold for Kurdish language, culture and arts, we would not agree to run the city," Hatun, who is an experienced engineer, said.
In the interview, he showed a whisk broom he claimed to have received from a voter who asked him to clean the city of corruption and “dirt.”
"We will keep this whisk broom for the next five years, so that our minds will not become dirty, either."
The pro-Kurdish party has won the Diyarbakir mayor post since 1999 under different political names. The AKP removed the then-elected mayor in 2016 and installed a government appointee to run the city ever since.
Hatun said the trustee system is not only wrong and bad for the local democracy, he went on to say that the AKP have also realized they made a mistake. He explained that running Kurdish areas through unelected officials has always been a characteristic of the Turkish state,one that does not please the voters.
Dozens of elected pro-Kurdish mayors in Turkey have been stripped of their offices over the years and replaced with state-linked trustees (administrators) due to their alleged links with the Kurdish rebels.
Bilden, also an engineer by profession, said that while he is not supporter of the trusteeship system, he claims that the government does not have an alternative but to fight what he described as “terror,” in reference to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Asked whether the party would reinstate the trustee if it does not emerge victorious in the elections, Bilden said he did not know if that would be the case, but said he remained confident that he would win.
For Hatun, the election is about reclaiming what he called the Kurdish spirit of the city, an issue that he said they are ready to "die for".
"Amed is our capital and has to remain the Kurdish capital for the next 1,000 years," he said using the Kurdish name for Diyarbakir. He did not rule out holding a referendum to ask the voters if the people wanted to use the Kurdish name for the city. He added the party would use “Amed” when referring to the city municipality in Kurdish.
"It would be a shame if we could not return Amed's name."
"We also have to ensure Kurdish language becomes spoken again...to [return] Kurdish names to neighborhoods and alleys. "
Some of the AKP's trustees removed Kurdish writing in their municipalities, rolling back some of the changes brought about by the pro-Kurdish party.
He vowed to also provide Kurdish education to the city's Kurdish population.
"The Kurdish schools that used to teach Kurdish, we are going to open them again. We are going to open schools and kindergartens in all 17 neighborhoods. This is not just a mere [election] promise, it is our responsibility."
However, Bilden claimed the Kurdish language is used in public areas, reminding the people that Kurdish language was previously banned.
"I am Kurdish, native of the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir," Bilden said as he spoke Kurdish with a Rudaw team. He invited people to send their children to the elective Kurdish class. He claimed, however, that people are not interested.
He said the fact that he belongs to the ruling party and that he served in different Turkish municipalities, including in Istanbul when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was then the mayor, he could provide services and bring prosperity to Diyarbakir.
He claimed that 100 factories would like to have a presence in Diyarbakir but have not done so because of the security situation, adding that now the province is "very nice and suitable" to invite these factories, as well as to boost tourism.
He said that he is planning to introduce a tram system in the south eastern province where an estimated two million live.
Bilden said that he would seek a loan from Ankara and global banks to pay for the project "interest free".
Osman Baydemir, the now exiled pro-Kurdish politician who was Dirarbakir's mayor from 2004-2014 first planned to open the tram system in the city. Although he could secure foreign investment for the plan, the central government did not consent to provide the required guarantee for a foreign investment.
Hatun and Bilden both said the tram system is a must and is long overdue.
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