HDP-affiliated mayors caught red-handed
Earlier this month, the government replaced 28 mayors with administrators over terror links. While 24 mayors were affiliated with the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), the remaining four had been elected on Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) tickets. The temporary replacement of elected officials with government-appointed administrators sparked controversy in Turkey.
The U.S. Embassy in Ankara, despite anticipating a strong reaction from the Turks, issued a statement to express concern, which both the AK Party and the MHP criticized. Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, Cabinet members and MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli accused U.S. Ambassador John Bass of meddling in Turkey's domestic affairs. In a phone call with Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also raised the issue.
In the wake of the government's decision, many people asked the same questions: Was the appointment of administrators an affront to the voters or a step taken to maintain public order? Did the HDP/DBP mayors, in particular, have clear ties to the PKK? If true, were the mayors just sympathizers or active supporters of an armed group killing dozens of civilians every month?
Looking for answers, I reached out to officials in the capital and found an opportunity to go through the rap sheet of each municipality - detailed reports providing concrete evidence linking a handful of elected officials to the PKK, which not only Turkey but also the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist organization.
According to the report, the authorities had clearly documented financial ties between the PKK and several dozen municipalities, with the vast majority of revenue streams coming from the national government. Several municipal employees reportedly reached out to the authorities stating that the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality had asked them to donate part of their salary to a fund set up to finance People's Protection Units (YPG) activities in northern Syria. Failure to donate, the complainants were told, would result in termination of their employment. The report also included proof that the local municipality in Van-Erciş had forced a hotel owner to give a TL 500,000 bribe ($170,000), which was later transferred to the PKK. The same goes for Diyarbakır-Sur, where a local business owner told the police that he had been asked by the municipality to pay TL 70,000, which was reduced by 50 percent after negotiations. "Although I paid them TL 35,000, they gave me a receipt for TL 1,100. I later found out that the money was sent to the PKK." According to officials, the authorities have received numerous complaints since 2013 alleging that HDP-controlled municipalities denied licenses to contractors for refusing to pay the PKK and local officials going out of their way to hurt their business interests.
The relationship between several municipalities and the PKK, according to officials, go beyond financial contributions. The report makes the case that a number of known PKK members were offered municipal jobs to create a steady revenue stream for terrorists. Out of 400 workers hired by the local municipality in Batman, a predominantly Kurdish city in the southeast, 328 allegedly had ties to the PKK.
Other municipalities provided logistical support to PKK militants. In the town of Hoşhaber, Iğdır, security forces found large amounts of food and supplies, which had been purchased by the municipality, in caves used by the PKK for storage and shelter. The authorities also discovered a letter signed by Deputy Mayor Kasım Akgün to a PKK commander. "I pay the organization as much as everybody else," the deputy mayor wrote. "I offer my respect."
It gets worse. Some HDP/DBP-controlled municipalities are accused of having actively participated in PKK attacks that resulted in hundreds of casualties since July 2015. According to documents seen by Daily Sabah, the mayor of Silopi placed municipal vehicles, including trucks and diggers, at the PKK's disposal and helped the terrorists dig trenches across the town.
Meanwhile, other municipalities were directly involved in terror attacks. In October 2014, a vehicle owned by the Silopi municipality crashed into an armored vehicle, which rolled over as a result. The armored vehicle was later attacked with 15 Molotov cocktails and assault rifles. Last November, the same municipality's fire department allegedly refused to extinguish a police car that was attacked with multiple Molotov cocktails. "They just stood there and watched the car burn," an eyewitness stated.
In January, a large number of weapons and ammunition were found aboard a tractor owned by the Dargeçit-Mardin municipality en route to a nearby PKK campsite. On July 9, a car bomb attack against the gendarmerie outpost in Artuklu-Mardin claimed three casualties and left 38 wounded. The vehicle used in the PKK attack was a truck owned by the Mazıdağı-Mardin municipality.
There are a number of similar cases that establish the links between several municipalities and the PKK, but the picture should be adequately clear by now. In light of the evidence, the question isn't why the mayors in question were replaced with administrators. It's why the authorities waited so long before taking action.
The U.S. Embassy in Ankara, despite anticipating a strong reaction from the Turks, issued a statement to express concern, which both the AK Party and the MHP criticized. Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, Cabinet members and MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli accused U.S. Ambassador John Bass of meddling in Turkey's domestic affairs. In a phone call with Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also raised the issue.
In the wake of the government's decision, many people asked the same questions: Was the appointment of administrators an affront to the voters or a step taken to maintain public order? Did the HDP/DBP mayors, in particular, have clear ties to the PKK? If true, were the mayors just sympathizers or active supporters of an armed group killing dozens of civilians every month?
Looking for answers, I reached out to officials in the capital and found an opportunity to go through the rap sheet of each municipality - detailed reports providing concrete evidence linking a handful of elected officials to the PKK, which not only Turkey but also the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist organization.
According to the report, the authorities had clearly documented financial ties between the PKK and several dozen municipalities, with the vast majority of revenue streams coming from the national government. Several municipal employees reportedly reached out to the authorities stating that the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality had asked them to donate part of their salary to a fund set up to finance People's Protection Units (YPG) activities in northern Syria. Failure to donate, the complainants were told, would result in termination of their employment. The report also included proof that the local municipality in Van-Erciş had forced a hotel owner to give a TL 500,000 bribe ($170,000), which was later transferred to the PKK. The same goes for Diyarbakır-Sur, where a local business owner told the police that he had been asked by the municipality to pay TL 70,000, which was reduced by 50 percent after negotiations. "Although I paid them TL 35,000, they gave me a receipt for TL 1,100. I later found out that the money was sent to the PKK." According to officials, the authorities have received numerous complaints since 2013 alleging that HDP-controlled municipalities denied licenses to contractors for refusing to pay the PKK and local officials going out of their way to hurt their business interests.
The relationship between several municipalities and the PKK, according to officials, go beyond financial contributions. The report makes the case that a number of known PKK members were offered municipal jobs to create a steady revenue stream for terrorists. Out of 400 workers hired by the local municipality in Batman, a predominantly Kurdish city in the southeast, 328 allegedly had ties to the PKK.
Other municipalities provided logistical support to PKK militants. In the town of Hoşhaber, Iğdır, security forces found large amounts of food and supplies, which had been purchased by the municipality, in caves used by the PKK for storage and shelter. The authorities also discovered a letter signed by Deputy Mayor Kasım Akgün to a PKK commander. "I pay the organization as much as everybody else," the deputy mayor wrote. "I offer my respect."
It gets worse. Some HDP/DBP-controlled municipalities are accused of having actively participated in PKK attacks that resulted in hundreds of casualties since July 2015. According to documents seen by Daily Sabah, the mayor of Silopi placed municipal vehicles, including trucks and diggers, at the PKK's disposal and helped the terrorists dig trenches across the town.
Meanwhile, other municipalities were directly involved in terror attacks. In October 2014, a vehicle owned by the Silopi municipality crashed into an armored vehicle, which rolled over as a result. The armored vehicle was later attacked with 15 Molotov cocktails and assault rifles. Last November, the same municipality's fire department allegedly refused to extinguish a police car that was attacked with multiple Molotov cocktails. "They just stood there and watched the car burn," an eyewitness stated.
In January, a large number of weapons and ammunition were found aboard a tractor owned by the Dargeçit-Mardin municipality en route to a nearby PKK campsite. On July 9, a car bomb attack against the gendarmerie outpost in Artuklu-Mardin claimed three casualties and left 38 wounded. The vehicle used in the PKK attack was a truck owned by the Mazıdağı-Mardin municipality.
There are a number of similar cases that establish the links between several municipalities and the PKK, but the picture should be adequately clear by now. In light of the evidence, the question isn't why the mayors in question were replaced with administrators. It's why the authorities waited so long before taking action.