Turkish gov’t dissolves CHP-led municipality’s council after trustee appointment

Duvar English

Following the appointment of a trustee to the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP)-led Esenyurt District Municipality and the mayor's arrest, a trustee was also assigned to the Municipal Council on Nov. 4, resulting in no elected officials remaining in the municipality.

Can Aksoy, who was appointed to the municipality as a trustee after elected mayor Ahmet Özer was arrested on charges of "membership in a terrorist organization," transferred the duties and powers of the elected council to the appointed civil servants.

Gül Çifti, the deputy chair of the CHP responsible for Election and Party Legal Affairs, shared the decision on X, stating, “After the appointment of a trustee to the mayor's office, a trustee has also been effectively appointed to the municipal council, and the second of the four ballots cast in Esenyurt on March 31 has been disregarded. We will use all our legal rights against this illegality. The trustee mentality will eventually lose, and the people's will shall prevail.”

Right after the appointment of the trustee, the CHP’s meeting room in the municipality was also closed. Members of the council, unable to enter, moved the meeting to the street.

On the same day, Esenyurt Deputy Mayors Oktay Kılıç, Murat Düzgün, and Osman Yalçın were dismissed from their positions and replaced with appointed officials from the governor's office.

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