Turkish gov’t appoints trustee to municipality for 12th time since 2024 local elections

Duvar English

The Turkish Interior Ministry on Feb. 24 appointed eastern Kars province’s Kağızman District Governor Okan Daştan as the trustee for the Kağızman Municipality, which was led by the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party.

In an official statement, the ministry explained, "Kars Kağızman Mayor Mehmet Alkan has been sentenced to six years and three months in prison by the Kars 2nd High Criminal Court for 'membership in an armed terrorist organization.' As a precautionary measure, Alkan has been suspended from duty."

DEM’s Mayor Alkan on Feb. 20 was sentenced to prison on "terrorism" charges. 

Following the ministry’s decision, the municipal building was placed under heavy police security. 

The government authorities imposed strict security measures, effectively sealing off the district. The Kars Governor’s Office announced a 10-day ban on protests and public gatherings, while security checkpoints were set up on all roads leading to the district. 

Many attempting to enter the district, including DEM Party Kars Provincial Organization Co-Chair and other party officials, were reportedly turned away.

Following the first imprisonment ruling, the co-mayors of the district denounced the prison sentence as a "pretext for appointing a trustee" and hung a banner on the municipal building reading, "We came by election, we won’t leave by trustee."

Alkan won the elections in the district after garnering 32.68% of the votes while its closest rival from the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) candidate received 25.15%.

12 municipalities under trustee administration

The Interior Ministry has been continuing to remove mayors from office and appoint trustees, even in cases where no final court ruling has been issued against them. With the recent appointment in Kağızman district, the number of municipalities placed under trustee control since the March 31, 2024, local elections has reached 12.

The first trustee appointment occurred on June 3, when the Ministry took control of DEM’s Hakkari Municipality. 

This was followed by the replacement of Istanbul’s Esenyurt district’s main-opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Mayor Ahmet Özer on Oct. 31, and the appointment of trustees in DEM-led Mardin Metropolitan Municipality, Batman Provincial Municipality, and Şanlıurfa’s Halfeti District Municipality on Nov. 4. 

More trustee appointments came on November 22 in DEM-governed Dersim Municipality and CHP-led Ovacık Municipality in Dersim. Van’s Bahçesaray Municipality followed on Nov. 29, then DEM-led Akdeniz Municipality in Mersin on Jan. 14, Siirt Municipality on Jan. 29, and finally, Van Metropolitan Municipality on Feb. 15.