Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Doğan Hatun attended the events held in Fatsa, Ordu, in memory of Fikri Sönmez. Emphasising that a democratic approach to local government is only possible when the public is directly involved in decision-making processes, Hatun said: “Nothing that is not for the people can be considered an investment; it adds no meaning to the future of a city.”

Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Doğan Hatun attended the events titled “Experiences of Local Democracy, Ecological Struggle, People-Oriented Municipalism and Social Solidarity” held in Fatsa, Ordu. Organised by the Fikri Sönmez Foundation for Local Government Research and Development on 9–10 May, the events were attended by Co-Mayor Hatun, DEM Party İzmir MP İbrahim Akın, and representatives of political parties and civil society organisations. As part of the programme, Co-Mayor Doğan Hatun and the participants visited Fikri Sönmez’s grave in Kabakdağı Village. Co-Mayor Hatun also presented an Amedspor jersey to Feridun Haşim Cevahir, Chair of the Fikri Sönmez Foundation.

Co-Mayor Hatun: Nothing that is not for the people adds meaning to a city’s future

Speaking at the forum titled “Destructive Mining and Ecological Devastation”, Co-Mayor Doğan Hatun drew attention to the democratic approach to local government and the importance of public participation in decision-making processes. Co-Mayor Hatun said:

“After the earthquake, a new settlement emerged in Oğlaklı in Diyarbakır. In line with our democratic local government approach, we, as Bağlar Municipality and Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, have established an organisation there, in Oğlaklı Neighbourhood of Bağlar district, in the form of a committee based on participatory budget planning. For a month, without exception, we set up a centre there to record the demands of everyone, from seven-year-old children to people aged 70. As municipal co-mayors and political representatives, we also go there once a week to listen to them.

“In the end, together with the people and again through a participatory process, we will choose — by a show of hands — the ideas, views, shortcomings they identify, and the projects they wish to see as investments, and we will make a start there, just like Fikri Sönmez’s eight committees. In other words, as Diyarbakır, we take Fikri Sönmez as our reference. What is people-oriented and stands with the people is, without exception, the idea of everyone, and we base ourselves on this understanding. Therefore, whatever the people’s demands, expectations and needs are, if we can organise and build this together with the people, then we can be a people-oriented municipality. Nothing that is not for the people can be considered an investment; it adds no meaning to the future of a city.”

At the end of his speech, Co-Mayor Hatun thanked the foundation executives who organised the events and all those who took part in the panel.

Local government experiences

On the second day of the events, a panel titled “Local Government Experiences from Fatsa to the Present and Today’s Struggle for Local Democracy” was held at Fatsa Municipality Culture Palace.

Co-Mayor Hatun: The Sönmez and Solmaz periods represented a democratic breakthrough

Speaking at the panel, Co-Mayor Hatun pointed to the historical importance of people-oriented local government experiences in Türkiye, stating that the periods of Fikri Sönmez, Edip Solmaz and Mehdi Zana demonstrated the people’s will to govern themselves. Co-Mayor Hatun said these experiences represented a people-oriented and democratic response to a political structure that failed to meet society’s needs, adding that the Fatsa experience was targeted for precisely this reason.

‘Trustee appointments severed the public from municipalities’

Commenting on the trustee appointments, Co-Mayor Hatun said these policies had transformed not only municipal administrations, but also society’s relationship with public institutions. Stating that municipalities were cut off from the public during the trustee periods, Co-Mayor Hatun said: “Institutions that should have been providing services to the public were turned into structures that would not even let people into the building.”

The example of Bağlar Municipality

Co-Mayor Hatun said Bağlar Municipality, which had previously stood out for its democratic and participatory municipal practices, suffered serious damage during the trustee period. He noted that a people-oriented approach to municipal government is based on using public resources for the benefit of society.

‘The public has a say in decision-making processes’

In his speech, Co-Mayor Hatun also touched on discussions around ecology and urban governance, stating that the Municipality based its work on infrastructure and traffic problems in Diyarbakır on the views of the public. Emphasising the importance of democratic participation in local government, Hatun said municipalities must ensure that the public has a direct say in decision-making processes.