Mayors from CHP issue joint statement after government’s recent crackdown

Duvar English

Mayors from the Turkish main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) held a meeting on Nov. 30 at the party headquarters following the government’s recent crackdown against opposition-led municipalities.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government recently appointed seven trustees to replace opposition mayors, two from the CHP and five from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, citing alleged “terrorism” investigations.

Moreover, the government this week waged a war against municipality-run daycare centers, which CHP-run municipalities currently operate more than 650 of them nationwide. 

After the meeting led by CHP leader Özgür Özel, the mayors issued a statement, saying they stood united and firm against “all kinds of attacks on our municipalities aimed at preventing a change in government.”

The mayors called the trustee appointments “a political coup attempt targeting the will of the people” as the government could not win those municipalities in the election. 

“Elected mayors, against whom there are no finalized court decisions, are removed from office through trustees, and their replacements are appointed by the government rather than elected by the municipal councils,” they said.

They also called for the release of CHP’s Esenyurt district mayor, Ahmet Özer, who was arrested on Oct. 30 on alleged charges of “membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) armed terrorist organization.”

Regarding the war on daycare centers, the mayors said, “The municipalities of the CHP are closing the big gap left by the government in social state practices within their own means. All our people see this situation and appreciate our municipalities. The last local elections have been the clearest proof of this.”

In the local election held in March, the AKP suffered a huge blow and came second after the CHP for the first time in the former’s 23-year-long history. 

“In our daycare centers, our children have access to cheap, high quality, safe and qualified care services. Our daycare centers pave the way for women's participation in employment and social life. The latest attempt by the government to close our daycare centers unduly targets women, children, and families, not daycare centers,” the mayors said.

They also noted the government trying to prevent their investments by imposing an “economic blockade.”

“Practices such as state-owned banks refraining from lending, injustices in the central government's distribution of resources to local governments, and arbitrary denial of international loans have been going on for years,” they said. 

A presidential decree published in Turkey’s Official Gazette on Nov. 27, amended the allocation of state budgets for metropolitan and provincial municipalities, and their affiliated institutions. The CHP said the decree would decrease the fundings that their municipalities receive from Ankara.

“As CHP-run municipalities, we stand by women, youth, laborers, unemployed, retirees, farmers, producers in the strongest way against the severe conditions caused by this economic bottleneck, and we provide social protection to every segment in need. Against the livelihood crisis, we will continue to be safe harbors where the people take refuge against all attacks and attempts to prevent them by the government,” the mayors concluded.