The Turkish Electoral Board returned to the Kurds the mayoralty they had won, but it was given to Erdogan's party.

Türkiye's Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) Reverse This Wednesday The decision to assign the position of mayor of Van to the Justice and Development Party. President's party Recep Tayyip ErdoganThis is despite the victory of the pro-Kurdish leftist Democratic Party in that city in the municipal elections last Sunday.

Democratic Party (formerly HDP) candidate, Abdullah Zidane got 55% of votes, but the regional electoral board declared his AKP rival the winner on Monday, claiming the winner had been disqualified after serving eight years in prison on charges of promoting terrorism.

DEM sympathizers started yesterday Protest in the streets of Van Led by the party leadership and supported by the Social Democratic Republican People's Party, which won the local elections on Sunday.

Police intervened today using tear gas and plastic bullets against demonstrators, and also broke up a protest by lawyers in Istanbul for the DDP, resulting in three human rights activists being lightly injured and fourteen being briefly arrested.

The police had already arrested him yesterday 89 people were arrested During protests in Van and other southeastern provinces.

DEM argues so Zidane has regained his civil rights And that his nomination has been approved by the Supreme Elections Council, a statement that the Attorney General’s Office appealed last Friday.

Zidane was elected to Parliament by the Peoples' Democratic Party (now DEM) in 2015, however He was arrested in 2016 Along with dozens of other representatives after they criticized the aerial bombardment carried out by the Turkish army against illegal Kurdish militants in the southeast of the country.

Speaking to reporters during a demonstration in front of the Supreme Election Council in the capital, Ankara, the DDP co-chair said, Tuncer BakirhanHe told reporters that Van suffered “Political coup.”

He explained that the residents of the region reject the mayors imposed on them because of the exclusion of the winning candidates in the elections.

He added: “This is not the way to respect the will of the people,” as Erdogan promised on election night. Selahattin DemirtasThe former leader of the Democratic Democratic Party, in a statement from the prison where he has been held since 2016 on charges of terrorism.

“We call on all our people, especially the residents of Van, and all pro-democracy political forces and parties to oppose this illegality,” he added in the text delivered through his lawyer.

After an appeal from the Democratic Party, the council decided today to reverse the decision of the electoral college in the governorate and hand over the leadership baton to Zidane, according to what the network reported. CNN Turk.

Last Sunday, the Democratic Party won by a large margin in 10 provinces It has a Kurdish majority in southeastern Anatolia, although it received only 5.7% of the votes throughout the country, as many of its fighters supported the candidates of the Republican People’s Party to avoid the victory of the Justice and Development Party led by Erdogan, which suffered its first defeat in these elections in more than Two years. From two decades ago.

(With information from AFP and EFE)