There was widespread anger Wednesday in the Kurdish-majority city of Hakkari on Turkey’s border with Iraq after its democratically elected mayor was handed a 19-and-a-half-year sentence on terrorism charges by a Turkish court. Mehmet Siddik Akis was stripped of his seat and sent to jail on Monday just two days earlier, igniting protests across the country and scuffles in Turkey's parliament between members of his People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) and lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended the ruling today. "The Hakkari decision should not upset anyone. Terrorism and democracy cannot co-exist. One cannot practice politics by relying on those who carry bombs in their hands," Erdogan said at an awards ceremony.
Akis, who was elected mayor in the March 31 elections with more than 48% of the popular vote, has been convicted of membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Hakkari’s government-appointed governor, Ali Celik, will run the municipality from here on.
Akis denies the charges and said he was the victim of a “political trial,” a view that is shared by Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). Its leader, Ozgur Ozel, denounced the move, saying, “What happened is to disregard the will of the people of Hakkari.”
