ISTANBUL: Following disagreements over the nullification of the candidate’s victory, the pro-Kurdish party in Turkiye announced on Wednesday that the nation’s electoral body has restored the victor of the mayoral race in the eastern city of Van. Sunday’s local elections in Van saw Abdullah Zeydan of the DEM party receive over 55% of the vote.
However, the regional election commission argued that he was not allowed to run because of a prior conviction, and as a result, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) nominee of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was awarded city hall. However, this candidate only received 27 percent of the vote.
DEM stated on X, the previous Twitter platform, that the Supreme Election Board (YSK) has since “decided to give the certificate of election to our Van… mayor Abdullah Zeydan.” The action was “a result of the Kurdish people’s resistance,” it was noted.
The regional commission’s ruling about Zeydan’s ineligibility came after a court order that had reinstated his right to run for office was abruptly overturned. Zeydan was detained and imprisoned in 2016 for criticizing the Turkish army’s air war against banned Kurdish rebels in the southeast, which has a plurality of Kurds. Zeydan was elected as an MP in 2015 on the HDP (now DEM) platform. He was allowed to go in 2022.
In Van province, which is located on Turkiye’s eastern border with Iran, violent protests against his removal continued into the night. Following violent skirmishes that expanded to many cities in the area and saw some demonstrators setting police barricades on fire, the local governor’s office declared a two-week ban on all protests.
According to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, 89 people—26 of whom were in Van province—were arrested for attending unauthorized gatherings and shouting support for a “separatist terror organization,” which alludes to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkiye and its Western allies have blacklisted.
