Fikri Sönmez

Fikri Sönmez (* 1938 in Ordu; † 4 May 1985 in Amasya ) was the mayor of the district in the Turkish province of Ordu Fatsa. 1980, it was removed in the course of military action from the office, on the grounds that he had founded in the district of a separatist and socialist People's Government.

Youth

He was born in 1938 in the village in the province of Ordu Kabakbağ, according to other sources in the city of Ordu. Born into a poor family, he started working in a tailor after elementary school.

In the 60s he was a member of the Workers Party of Turkey. He was an activist of the group Devrimci Gençlik (Revolutionary Youth), a political youth organization of the Turkish '68 movement. In the political discussions and groups at the end of the 60s he was close to the group THKP -C to Mahir Cayan. After the military coup on 12 March 1971 he was arrested, spent two years in prison, but was acquitted. After his release from prison he made with political activities in provinces along the Black Sea coast as Giresun, Ordu and Samsun on.

Mayor

In 1979 he was a candidate, although three attacks had been made ​​on his life already, elected as an independent candidate in the mayoral election in Fatsa and was 62% of the vote. As mayor, he changed the administrative structure of the district and established the People's Councils, the self-governing bodies of the inhabitants should be. He tried on the one hand, to allow active involvement of residents in local politics, on the other hand secure an active social control of the county government. He organized every second month a public meeting, in which not only the policy of the local government, but also social problems such as alcoholism, gambling, violence against women were discussed and the like. These meetings also had the right to depose officials.

One of the most important actions of self-government was the " Campaign Against the marsh ". After the success of this action a folk festival was organized where many opposition musicians played.

While this self-government has become a symbol of left-wing organizations, was the conservative and right-wing politicians such as the then Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel and the media practiced sharp mind criticism.

On 11 July 1980, the self-government was ended by the so-called " point operation ", although the local organizations of other political parties expressed against military action. At the operation was attended not only military forces but also masked members of right- wing extremist organizations. Sonmez was arrested and severely tortured.

In the following years he remained in prison. Because of the torture and the conditions in the prison his health deteriorated and he died on May 4, 1985 at the prison of heart failure.