Xenophobic Turkish mayor faces investigation for admitting ‘unlawful’ anti-refugee regulations

Duvar English

Turkey’s Justice Ministry on Jan. 5 launched an investigation into Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), for admitting “unlawfully” implementing anti-refugee regulations.

In an online interview posted on Jan. 4, Özcan said, “(The refugees) get enough help from the state. I said I would not provide a single penny of aid from the Bolu Municipality budget. I removed the signs overnight and unlawfully canceled their licenses. Currently, there is not a single Arabic sign in Bolu.”

Bolu is located in north-western Turkey, one of the provinces between Istanbul and Ankara.

“(The regulations) were unlawful. Had they filed a suit, they would've won probably. In politics, the most powerful time is when you have just been elected. This created a shock wave, they couldn't understand what was happening,” Özcan said. 

“When I saw that there wasn't enough pressure, again, I'm a lawyer myself, I raised the wedding and water fees, which was also unlawful. I knew that this would be overturned by the administrative court. It was already rejected before coming into force,” he admitted. 

Following his statements, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced that they launched an investigation against Özcan. 

Özcan is known for his anti-refugee discourse, introducing a series of xenophobic measures in the province, such as increasing rates for water use, weddings and buses, and not selling grave plots to foreign residents. 

He was also previously expelled from the CHP for his sexist remarks towards a municipal council member from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), but then was pardoned before the municipal elections.

Previously a CHP lawmaker, this is Özcan's second term as Bolu mayor. In the 2024 local elections, he received more than 52 percent of the votes.