Special for the Armenian Weekly
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (A.W.)—Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has emerged as a clear winner in the local elections held in Turkey, as the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) solidified its influence over the country’s southeast, wrestling several cities away from AKP.
Kışanak voting (Photo: Özgür Ayaydın, Anadolu News Agency)
In turn, the BDP added Bitlis, Ağrı, and Mardin to the list of metropolitan municipalities under its control, which include Van, Hakkari, Şırnak, Tunceli (Dersim), and Batman.
BDP also carried Iğdır, which it had won in the previous local elections (2009). Back then, Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek had said, “They took Iğdır too. They are now attached to Armenia,” referring to the pro-Kurdish party.
The BDP pioneered a system of local government with two co-mayors—a man and a woman—in every city where it ran. The first would be the mayor, while the second would head the municipal council. Under this system, 50 percent of the BDP’s mayoral candidates were women and, consequently, 50 percent of its municipal leaders are now women.
In Diyarbakır, a BDP stronghold, the party secured 56 percent of the vote, as its candidates for the metropolitan municipality as well as the Sur, Yenişehir, Kayapınar, and the Bağlar municipalities of Diyarbakır cruised to victory.
Gültan Kışanak, the co-chair of BDP, became the metropolitan mayor of Diyarbakır, replacing Osman Baydemir, who was, in turn, running for mayor in Urfa, but lost to the AKP candidate. The co-mayor with Kışanak will be Fırat Anlı.
Kışanak is one of the three women who are now heading metropolitan municipalities in Turkey. AKP’s Fatma Şahin (Gaziantep) and Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Özlem Çerçioğlu (Aydın) are the other two.
Metropolitan municipalities are provincial centers that have a population of 750,000 or above. They are, in turn, divided into second level municipalities.
Kışanak speaking earlier this year in Diyarbakir during the anniversary of Hrant Dink’s assassination. (Photo by Gulisor Akkum, The Armenian Weekly)
Diyarbakir has four such municipalities, below are their mayors and co-mayors.
Sur Municipality: Seyit Narin (Narin replaces Abdullah Demirbaş), Fatma Şıkbarut
Yenişehir Municipality: Selim Kurbanoğlu, Ülkü Baytaş
Kayapınar Municipality: M. Ali Aydın, Fatma Arşimet
Bağlar Municipality: Birsen Kaya Akad, Eşref Yüksel
In neighboring Mardin, Ahmet Türk won the election. Februniye Akyol, an Assyrian, is the co-mayor.