Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayors Serra Bucak and Doğan Hatun met with French Communist Party senators and the Kurdish Working Group in the French Parliament as part of their engagements in France, drawing attention to the damage caused by Türkiye’s trustee (kayyım) policy.
Continuing their programme in France, Co-Mayors Serra Bucak and Doğan Hatun—together with DBB Council Member Emine Akın and former DBB Co-Mayor Gültan Kışanak—first met French Communist Party Senators Michelle Gréaume and Pascal Savoldelli at the Senate.
The meeting discussed current developments in Türkiye, how these developments are reflected in local government, strengthening cooperation, and potential joint projects.
Co-Mayor Bucak: Local democracy has been dismantled
The Co-Mayors later met Thomas Portes, Chair of the Kurdish Working Group—formed jointly by La France Insoumise and the Greens—along with committee members Danielle Simonnet and Marie Pochon at the French Parliament.
In her remarks, Co-Mayor Bucak said the trustee (kayyım) policy had dismantled local democracy and caused serious disruptions in municipal services. She stressed that, over the past eight years, municipalities had made no investment in areas such as infrastructure, transport, social policies, women’s services, language, and culture. Bucak added that, despite the lack of investment, trustee administrations left municipalities under a heavy debt burden, and that significant budget deficits were found in municipal accounts when local administrations took office again.
‘The will of the people has been sidelined’
Co-Mayor Bucak said that, with the appointment of trustees (kayyım) in 2016, democratic participation, civil society and the public will were pushed aside—describing this as a “major injustice” to the city and “a crime against the city”. She added that, despite ongoing pressure, they have continued local diplomacy and solidarity work with municipalities across Europe, and noted that joint efforts have been pursued for years around anti-capitalist, ecological and egalitarian perspectives.
‘Cooperation will create new opportunities’
Stating that Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality will sign a sister-city (twinning) protocol with the City of Rennes, Co-Mayor Bucak said this cooperation would open up new opportunities both in municipal service delivery and in the field of people-to-people diplomacy. She added that similar cooperation could be expanded with local authorities in countries such as France and Mexico.
‘We want diplomatic ties to grow’
Co-Mayor Doğan Hatun said that, after they were elected in 2024, the French Ambassador was the first to visit them. Emphasising that such visits boost morale both for residents and for themselves, Hatun said: “We have always wanted these diplomatic relations to develop—culturally and artistically, as well as politically and technically. The ties between Kurds and France have long been strong, and we hope they will become even stronger in the future.”
Co-Mayor Hatun also drew attention to the lack of investment in the city during the trustee period.
