Interventions Are Designed To Preserve The Status Quo, Says Teachers’ Union Chief

Speaking on the eve of the vote, Eylem told reporters that intervention operations organized by the ruling AKP apparatus — and assisted by local allies — have reached a peak and are increasingly blatant. “What used to be done behind closed doors is now being carried out openly,” she said.

Eylem listed a series of measures she said are being deployed to influence the election, including mass citizenship grants, bribery, temporary appointments made through patronage rather than merit, and the mobilization of business and social figures — from club officials to ambassadors — who allegedly travel to the island to sway voters. She singled out the parliamentary push to fast-track a “two-state” resolution as the latest manoeuvre intended to affect the October 19 vote, warning that the committee-approved measure will be brought to the Assembly and pushed through shortly.

The union leader condemned what she described as the country’s transformation into “a playground for mafia, plunder and cronyism,” saying international law and treaties — including the Geneva Conventions and guarantor agreements to which Turkey is a party — are being ignored. “This is an attempt by groups that extract huge rents from our small country to preserve their profits and privileges,” Eylem said, adding that the effort equates to “maintaining a thieving status quo.”

Eylem also called on government officials who have abetted the interventions to disclose the identities of the owners and partners behind casinos, hotels, universities and airports in the north, and to explain the sources of their amassed wealth.

Despite her sharp criticism of the government and what she called a “staged theatre” of two-faced politics, Eylem said KTOEÖS will continue to press for a federal solution and to defend independence and civil liberties. “We will keep resisting and fighting for freedom and a peaceful, federated future,” she declared.