Mayors Archives

Open Letter to Mayors of Yerevan’s Twin Cities: Suspend Cooperation With Yerevan Municipality Since it Perpetuates Violence

February 26, 2018 by administrator

Open Letter to Mayors of Yerevan’s

13:49, February 26, 2018

To the mayors of Volgograd, Stavropol, Nice, Rostov-on-Don, Antananarivo, Beirut, Bratislava, Isfahan, Carrara, Los Angeles, Cambridge, Chisinau, Marseille, Tbilisi, Buenos Ayres, Montreal, Odessa, Sao Paolo, Venice, Riga, Amman, Novosibirsk and Antony

CC: Ambassadors and/or honorary consuls of Russia, France, Lebanon, Slovakia, Iran, Italy, USA, Ukraine, Brazil, Latvia, Jordan in Armenia

CC: Local media outlets of Volgograd, Stavropol, Nice, Rostov-on-Don, Antananarivo, Beirut, Bratislava, Isfahan, Carrara, Los Angeles, Cambridge, Chisinau, Marseille, Tbilisi, Buenos Aires, Montreal, Odessa, Sao Paolo, Venice, Riga, Amman, Novosibirsk and Antony

The website of the Yerevan municipality, capital of the Republic of Armenia, states that your city is one of Yerevan’s twin cities. The municipalities of the two cities have signed an agreement of friendship, partnership and mutual support.

On February 13th, 2018, unprecedented public violence was perpetuated against 2 oppositional members of the Council of Yerevan at the council meeting chaired by mayor Taron Margarian. Marina Khachatryan and Sona Aghekyan of “Yerkir Tsirani” oppositional party intended to draw the attention of the municipal council and particularly Mayor Taron Margarian on the years-long neglected issue of the residents of Nubarashen District. At the request of fellow citizens, in glass jars they brought samples of the sewer water that was leaking from inside the prison of Nubarashen into the residential areas spreading intolerable odor. The aim was that the council members and the mayor temporarily feel the dire conditions in which the residents of the prison and the residential district lived in and to temporarily give a solution to the long-standing issue. At the herding of Mayor Taron Margaryan, other male council members and staff of the municipality (including Artur Gevorkyan, Davit Ohanyan, Sergey Mkrtchyan, Hovhannes Avanesyan, Edmond Kirakosyan, Vaspurak Martirosyan, Gor Vardanyan) literally assaulted Marina Khachatryan and Sona Aghekian, publicly beat them, manhandled them, threatened and used sexual swear words against them, exerted sexual abuse and other forms of violence.

Not only did mayor Taron Margarian not assume responsibility for the violence perpetuated at his command and in his presence, but he subsequently continued exercising various administrative repressions against the oppositional women council members. After the violent incident, the municipality has also decided from now on to illegally restrain and bar the presence of media at municipal council meetings.

10 days have passed after the perpetrated violence, however the Republican Party holding majority seats both at the municipal council and in the parliament of Armenia, has not condemned the violence. On the contrary, it has justified the brutal acts blaming the women council members and making uttery sexist statements. Some media outlets also continue publishing articles directly justifying gender-based violence and sexism.

Armenia’s law enforcement bodies reacted to the acts of violence with a great delay under the influence of public outcry and demand. The criminal investigation will be held under Articles of the Criminal Code of Armenia implying mildest publishment.

With this open letter, we, the undersigned, are pleading with you to unilaterally sever or suspend the agreement of friendship signed with the Municipality of Yerevan until the perpetrators of violence and the incumbent mayor Taron Margaryan are held responsible and the current municipal council is changed. Having a sister-city with a violent and corrupt mayor and council members does no honor to the administration and population of any city, therefore with call upon you to share our concern and renounce cooperating with a structure perpetrating violence.

Respectfully,

Anna Nikoghosyan

Marine Margaryan

Anna Shahnazaryan

Lucine Talalyan

Susanna Gyulamiryan

Vanadzor Citizen’s Assembly, NGO

Sofya Manukyan

Armine Ishkanian

Nelli Sargsyan

Anahit Sargsyan

Ruzanna Grigoryan

Alex Sardar

Anna Zhamakochyan

Nana Mantasheva

Levon Barseghyan, Gyumri Municipal Council member

Marianna Grigoryan

Women’s Rights House, NGO

Women’s Support Center, NGO

Society Without Violence, NGO

Gevorg Kehyan

Commune

Mariam Kurshudyan

Sevan Petrossian

Anush Khachatryan

Real World, Real People, NGO

Mayranush Davtryan Gevorgyan

Lucine Navasartian

Arpi Balyan

Anahit Simonyan

Nuard Minasyan

Milena Abrahamyan

Vardine Grigoryan

EcoRight, NGO

Elvira Meliksetyan

Karen Hakobyan

Lala Aslikyan

Maral Bavakan

Alisa Qamalyan

Lida Minasyan

For Equal Rights, NGO

“Women in Black, Armenia” Initiative

Lara Aharonian

Hasmik Gevorgyan

Milena Tadukhepa

Nelli Paytyan

Karine Ghazaryan

Women’s Rights Center, NGO

Tehmine Yenoqyan

Ruzanna Tsaturyan

Sargis Kharazyan

Vahan Ishkhanyan

Zaruhi Hovhannisyan

Lucine Sargsyan

Naka Duli

Ecolur Information Center, NGO

Elmon Yegnukian

Zara Harutyunyan

Source:https://hetq.am/eng/news/86097/55-anhatneri-ev-kazmakerputyunneri-bac-namaky-erevani-quyr-qaxaqnerin.html

Three Kurdish district mayors detained in Turkey’s southeast Plus 9 others in Çukurca

December 3, 2016 by administrator

A police vehicle is seen in front of the Şemdinli Municipality on Dec 3. / DHA Photo

The mayors of three districts of Turkey’s southeastern province of Hakkari have been detained on Dec. 3, while searches were being conducted in the municipality buildings, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Police officers, who were operating under the Hakkari Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, have detained the mayors of Çukurca, Yüksekova and Şemdinli as part of an ongoing terror investigation.

Within the scope of simultaneous operations conducted in Hakkari, first the Çukurca Mayor Servet Tunç, who is from the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), the sister party of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was detained early on Dec. 3.

A total of nine people have been detained in Çukurca, including Tunç and Deputy Mayor Hilal Duman.
Adile Kozay, the mayor of Yüksekova from the DBP, was detained later in the day, which was followed by the detention of Şemdinli Mayor Seferi Yılmaz, who is also from the DBP.

Turkish flags were hung on the municipality buildings following the raids.

Turkey: Three Kurd mayors in Diyarbakır arrested after autonomy declarations

August 23, 2015 by administrator

DİYARBAKIR – Anadolu Agency

DHA Photo

Four mayors in southeastern Turkey have been arrested for announcing their autonomy from Ankara in response to violent attacks by state forces during battles between the military and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Three people, including Hakkari Co-Mayor Dilek Hatipoğlu, were arrested by a local court on Aug. 23 for attempting to damage the constitutional system. Nurullah Çiftçi, a Hakkari Municipal Council member, and Peace and Democracy Party (HDP) District head İsmail Sihat Kaya were also arrested by the court.

A local court in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır ordered the arrest of five people on Aug. 23, including the co-mayors of Sur district, Seyid Narin and Fatma Şık Barut, as well as Silvan Co-Mayor Yüksel Bodakçı, on charges of “disrupting the unity and territorial integrity of the state.”

Two other suspects identified by their initials A.R.Ç. and G.Ö. were among the five arrested people, according to a statement released by Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor Ramazan Solmaz.

They were sent to prison pending further trial.

Two other people were released on conditional probation, the sources added.

Police are still on the lookout for four more suspects.

Four DBP co-mayors were detained on Aug. 19 in two districts of Diyarbakır over recent statements declaring autonomy from Ankara.

The recent prevalence of autonomy statements from DBP officials in southeastern provinces first began on Aug. 10 in Şırnak, when DBP provincial head Salih Gülenç vowed to “build their lives on the basis of democracy” on the grounds that the state had lost its legitimacy.

The second statement, meanwhile, came from Hakkari on the same day as military operations continued against the PKK. DBP Hakkari central district co-chair İbrahim Çiftçi declared the area’s autonomy, saying, “No one assigned by the state will govern us.”

On Aug. 15, similar autonomy statements came from the Silvan district of Diyarbakır and the southeastern province of Batman. Batman Municipality co-chairs Sabri Özdemir and Gülistan Akel made a joint statement declaring autonomy for the southeastern province.

In the wake of the announcement in Silvan, security forces initiated a spree of violence that resulted in numerous burnt-out buildings and allegations of human rights abuses.

On Aug. 22, the Interior Ministry launched investigations into 93 eastern municipalities held by the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) on charges of lending logistical support to the PKK.

The DBP, the sister party of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), holds municipalities in three metropolitan cities, 11 cities, 68 districts and 23 towns. The DBP-held metropolitan municipalities in Diyarbakır, Mardin and Van are subject to the investigation.

Source: hurriyetdailynews