Mayor Pinar Yesil’s smashed car window.By Melissa Meehan
BLACKMAIL, broken windows, egged cars and threatening letters have embattled Greater Dandenong mayor Pinar Yesil fearing for her safety.
Cr Yesil says she is the target of a group who are fabricating lies and threatening to circulate them to the public if she does not resign from her role on council.
She says she has been forced to go public with her story after suffering “constant harassment” for several months. “Initially I thought the problem might go away after people came to terms with the election results,” Cr Yesil said. “But it is starting to become a major concern. I am starting to feel concerned for my safety.”
Cr Yesil said she believed the four threatening letters she received were linked to her role on council and not her personal life because each letter called for her resignation.
Concerns for her safety have forced her to think about moving from her home in Keysborough and suppressing her address.
The mayor spoke with Star on Tuesday after news filtered through that she was again under attack, with a slanderous letter forwarded to her fellow councillors and neighbours. She had previously received three handwritten letters that demanded she step down from her position on council from a group that calls itself ‘Coalition against Pinar Yesil’.
But the letter, received by the majority of councillors on Thursday, was slightly different. Instead of being addressed to the mayor herself, the typed letter outlined reasons why Cr Yesil should step down along with a number of serious allegations.
Cr Yesil described the letter as slanderous and untrue.
“I am suggesting it is from the same people because they have again demanded that I step down,” Cr Yesil said. “But I will not resign, I will not be intimidated, I am tougher than that.”
She said she had reported all incidents to the police.
This week Cr Yesil wrote to fellow councillors to ask for their support in condemning the “outrageous acts”.
She said she had also written to acting CEO Tim Tamlin to tighten security measures surrounding her home and while performing mayoral duties at night.
Former mayor and current councillor John Kelly said he had never received any threats during his term as mayor.
“I can honestly say that in 15 years of local government I have never received any threat letter or threat on my person,” Cr Kelly said. “I have never had any of that concern.”
Dandenong police declined to comment on the matter.
