HDP: We did not withdraw from GABB, GABB was seized 2019-12-10 11:53:18 ANKARA - HDP deputy co-chair, Salim Kaplan, said: "We did not withdraw from GABB, GABB was seized."   HDP Local Governments co-spokesperson Salim Kaplan issued a written statement to respond to a news spreading around saying that "HDP municipalities have withdrawn from GABB (Southeastern Anatolia Municipalities Union)".   Kaplan, in a written statement, drew attention to the seizure of HDP-run municipalities where democratically and freely elected mayors have been replaced by trustees. "The trustee of the Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality, - said Kaplan - has appointed himself president of GABB."   Kaplan said that the trustee had said at the meeting: "I am the state, you will not make elections here."   Kaplan reiterated that the HDP has not participated to a second meeting of GAAB, as "attendance to a GABB meeting consisting of trustees would not be right". However, said Kaplan, "the HDP has not taken the decision to withdraw our municipalities from GABB."