Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayors Serra Bucak and Emin Ay attended a press statement organised as part of a campaign led by the Şiyar Be Platform for Combating Drugs, under the slogan “Rabin (Rise up) for a life free from addiction”, against addiction, prostitution and social degradation across the city.

The results of a face-to-face survey on addiction conducted with 1,609 people in the Yenişehir (Ben û Sen), Bağlar (Kaynartepe), Sur (İskenderpaşa) and Kayapınar (Medya) neighbourhoods were shared with the public at the People’s Garden next to the Shrine of Suleyman’s Tomb.

In addition to Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayors Serra Bucak and Emin Ay, the event was attended by DEM Party Diyarbakır MPs Ceylan Akça Cupolo, Adalet Kaya and Serhat Eren; TJA activist Ayla Akat Ata; GABB and Bağlar Municipality Co-Mayor Siraç Çelik; City Council Co-Mayor Serdar Keskin; DBB Assembly Co-Spokesperson Ayhan Karatekin; Deputy Chief Executive Zerin Türk; council members; district co-mayors; heads of departments; representatives of civil society organisations; and many residents.

“Such horizontal organisation strengthens the hand of local government”

Speaking at the event, Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Serra Bucak highlighted the critical importance of the work carried out by the platform since its establishment for the future of the city. Stressing that the fight could not be limited to the resources of the municipality alone, Co-Mayor Bucak said:

“This is a collective platform; we have colleagues and institutions working in every field. Bringing people together through such a horizontal form of organisation in a city like this undoubtedly strengthens the hand of local government. As the Metropolitan Municipality, we have launched our work on combating addiction and providing counselling services at neighbourhood level and brought it to a certain stage. However, I would like to emphasise that this is not something local governments can address simply by setting up counselling centres on their own; it is the cooperation between political actors, civil society and different professional groups that will give this work its real strength.”

“Addiction should be addressed as a social policy issue”

Co-Mayor Bucak said that they had decided to establish centres for combating addiction in all outlying districts as well as the four central districts, and that processes for recruiting specialist staff and securing premises were ongoing. She criticised the way the issue is being addressed, saying:

“Unfortunately, in this city, tackling drugs and addiction is seen solely as a public order issue. Yet this is a matter of social policy, the social sphere, social development and public debate. Concrete social policies need to be developed to address it.”

“Preparations for the residential clinical treatment centre have been completed”

Co-Mayor Bucak announced that all preparations had been completed for a residential clinical treatment centre specifically accessible to women struggling with addiction, and described the bureaucratic obstacles they had encountered:

“Our project is ready, the budget is ready, and we have the will and the capacity to carry it out. However, despite our meetings with the Provincial Directorate of Health, we have not yet been able to achieve a result. In a city like this, even the allocation of a Treasury-owned plot of land to local governments is considered too much. For the past two and a half years, we have encountered this obstacle in almost every social policy initiative we have sought to implement. While no one is held accountable for the land sold by the appointed trustees in the past, preventing these efforts of ours will not diminish the determination of local governments in this struggle; on the contrary, it will strengthen it. We will rapidly put our work on education, awareness-raising and the establishment of centres into practice.”

“District municipalities are making major efforts to address derelict buildings”

Co-Mayor Bucak said that district municipalities were making major efforts to demolish and clear derelict buildings, noting that the problem could not be resolved permanently because the areas left after demolition could not be expropriated. She said that the municipalities of Sur and Bağlar had been carrying out the demolition of derelict buildings for more than a year and a half, adding:

“Although the process is proving difficult in Bağlar due to the problems caused by adjoining buildings and planning issues, the work is continuing. We will also continue demolishing derelict buildings in Ergani, Hani and our other outlying districts. However, the process does not end once municipalities have carried out the demolition and cleared away the rubble; empty buildings and sites are left behind. This is precisely where the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change’s urban regeneration mechanism needs to operate in this city.”

“The centralised approach must be abandoned”

Co-Mayor Bucak said that urban regeneration had become an issue on which the state simply makes statements and then steps back, and called for an end to the centralised approach:

“As long as a centralised approach and the security bureaucracy continue to operate in the city, and as long as local government budgets, human resources and the collective knowledge of society are not brought in as stakeholders in areas such as Fiskaya, Ben u Sen and Kaynartepe, finding a lasting solution will become increasingly difficult. It is essential that Ankara abandon this centralised approach.”

“A joint mechanism must be established in which all institutions can take responsibility”

Pointing to the security aspect of street and park lighting in the fight against drugs, Co-Mayor Serra Bucak stressed that DEDAŞ must fulfil its responsibilities, saying:

“DEDAŞ is the main body responsible for lighting poles on streets and roads. Once we have completed the roads and pavements, we hand over the infrastructure in accordance with the procedure. Maintenance, repairs and keeping the streets illuminated are their responsibility. We are calling for a joint mechanism in which all institutions take responsibility.”

The event concluded with presentations of reports, prepared in Turkish and Kurdish, on the results of the survey covering the four neighbourhoods, delivered by representatives of the Şiyar Be Platform for Combating Drugs.