Removal of HDP mayors 'damaged' Turkey’s democracy: European Union

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The dismissal of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) mayors who won in last year's local elections has "damaged" the democracy of Turkey, according to a new European Union (EU) report.

The criticism from the European Commission – the executive branch of the EU – came in an annual communication on EU enlargement policy, which assesses candidacy for countries seeking Union membership.

“The replacement of 47 democratically elected HDP municipal mayors by centrally appointed trustees in the south-east [Turkey] put the results of the democratic process of the 31 March 2019 local elections into question,” read the 2020 report by the commission.

“Arrests and dismissals of elected mayors and party representatives continued and seriously damaged local democracy,” the report added.

The HDP gained 65 of over a thousand municipalities in local elections held last March, but six mayor-elects were prohibited from taking office, on the grounds that they had previously been dismissed from mayorship by the government.

According to data from the HDP, 47 of the 59 mayors permitted to take office have been dismissed, then replaced with trustees appointed by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) majority government. Eighteen of the mayors were detained by Turkish authorities, before being removed from their posts.

Turkey's foreign ministry slammed the EU report, claiming it reflects the union’s “biased, unconstructive and double-standard-based stance.”

“This year’s report continues to criticize Turkey by means of unfounded arguments, while still not referring to its own unfulfilled responsibilities and commitments,” read the ministry's statement, published Tuesday.

“Prejudiced, unjust and disproportionate criticisms about our system of government, elections, fundamental rights, certain court rulings, administrative decisions and legitimate measures taken while combatting terrorism as well as our foreign, security and economic policies reveal how far the report is from being objective.”

The first government crackdown on inaugurated mayors occurred in August 2019, when the mayors of three large Kurdish-majority cities were dismissed.

The government conducted fresh raids on the HDP offices and the houses of their officials late September, detaining 82 people, most with links to the HDP, in relation to October 2014 solidarity protests with Kobane, a Syrian Kurdish city then under attack from the Islamic State (ISIS).

Ayhan Bilgen, the HDP's mayor of the city of Kars, was among those detained in the raids. Bilgen later announced his resignation from the role, hinting that he was sure he would be replaced by a government-appointed trustee. A few days later, the governor of Kars was appointed trustee for the city.

The HDP branded the raids “politically-motivated.”

Ebru Gunay, spokesperson for the HDP, denied her party held any responsibility for the Kobane protests.

“There is no evidence, though we know that the government and courts will not act as per evidence but as per their political opinions,” she said after September's raids.

Nine HDP parliamentarians have been detained since November 2016, according to the latest available party data, including former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. At least 30 former HDP officials have also been detained. Most of them have been held on terror-related charges.

Turkey has been an EU candidate country for over two decades.