In a social media post, Turk emphasized that democratic municipalities have never been under the supervision of "known individuals," but rather, the rights of the people have been usurped for three terms by the removal of their elected mayors.
Referring to his 50 years in democratic politics, Ahmed Turk found Erdogan's remarks about a veteran of the political arena to be offensive. He said the allegations were not only shameful and baseless but also indicative of weakness. Turk stressed that attempts to eliminate elected municipalities by replacing them with trustees represent an unfair response to the wishes and will of the people.
Yesterday, Erdogan, in a speech after a cabinet meeting, defended his recent decisions to appoint trustees in the municipalities of Şanliurfa, Mardin, Eruh (Batman), and Hilvan, accusing the mayors of these municipalities of being members of the PKK.
He stated that some of the dismissed mayors, instead of serving citizens, had been serving terrorist groups and goals other than public interest.
He added public resources could not be allowed to be allocated to these goals and stated that these actions (dismissing elected mayors and appointing trustees) would continue.