President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call to the mukhtars — elected heads of villages and towns — to be informants for the government has come true. In Cemilli village in the southern Turkish province of Mersin, 18 people were indicted for insulting Erdoğan after they were denounced by the mukhtar of the village.
According to Cumhuriyet newspaper, 18 people were indicted on charges of being Islamist Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) group and The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP-C) organization members and insulting Erdoğan after the denunciation by the mukhtar. The villagers told that the mukhtar had casted aspersions on them because of the animosity emerged during the mukhtar elections.
President Erdoğan frequently has meetings with the mukhtars and in one of these meetings in 2015, he said “My mukhtars will keep track of who lives where and will report it properly to the nearest district governor and police chief. With this intelligence, we will know what is happening in each house." Following Erdoğan’s call, news about the Mukhtar Information System which was launched by the Interior Ministry, went headlines in Turkey.
‘THE MUKHTAR WANTED REVENGE’
Halil Bağcı, the mukhtar of Cemilli village, turned to the Attorney General of the Republic for Mersin and asserted claims against 18 villagers including the former mukhtar. Bağcı claimed that some of the villagers were members of FETÖ, PKK, DHKP-C, while some insulted Erdoğan. He also alleged that some of them praised the July 15 coup attempt. Bağcı wanted to withdraw his petition after his denunciation came to light, however the Attorney General didn’t accept it and launched an investigation against 18 villagers.
The villagers, questioned by the anti-terror police, stated they were shocked by the claims against them and filed charges against the mukhtar, saying that he casted aspersions on them for revenge.
The former mukhtar of the village, Fevzi Efe, told that he was known as a CHP supporter but charged with making propaganda for PKK and DHKP-C while his wife was charged with FETÖ membership. Efe told that all indicted people voted for him in the elections and had problems with Bağcı. Another villager said that Bağcı, a former imam, had been tried for insulting Atatürk in 1996.
Bağcı, on the other hand, rejected that he had denounced the villagers and argued that he just gave information about them to the police.
PAY INCREASE FOR MUKHTARS
Mukhtars report all their findings through a special computerized information system. Their messages first go to Ministry of Interior’s Directorate of Local Administrations and from there they are forwarded to the relevant state organs.
Mukhtars were given a pay increase that is more than three times their allowance since 2014.
