In the wake of the threat of a financial crackdown on opposition-run municipalities from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has revealed the amount of debt its municipalities have inherited from Erdoğan’s party and its far-right ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) the Birgün daily reported.
Erdoğan targeted opposition municipalities last week over their debts, saying the finance ministry is working on a plan to collect the debts and that they will not be allowed to waste the public’s money.
Erdoğan’s call has been interpreted as an attempt to exert financial pressure on opposition municipalities to hinder their operations and discredit them in the eyes of the public in retaliation for his party’s loss in the March 31 local elections.
The CHP emerged as the leading party for the first time in 47 years in the local elections, securing 37.7 percent of the vote, maintaining control of key cities and securing substantial gains in other regions, while Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) came in second, garnering only 35.4 percent. It was the worst election defeat the AKP has suffered since its establishment in 2002.
CHP Deputy Chairman Gökan Zeybek, responsible for the party’s local administrations, revealed on Wednesday the amount of debt some CHP-run municipalities inherited from the previously AKP and the MHP-run municipalities after their election win in 2019 and the 2024 March local elections.
According to Zeybek, Ankara’s former mayor, Melih Gökçek, from the AKP, left a debt of $2 billion behind when the municipality was won by the CHP for the first time in 2019. Zeybek said the municipality cleared half the debt over time, bringing it down to $1 billion.
Regarding the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the municipality’s debt stood at $535 million when it was first taken over by the CHP in 2019 and it currently stands at $548 million despite giant investments on the improvement of the city’s subway network, according to the figures from Zeybek.
In the southern municipality of Adana, the municipal debt stood at $1.18 billion when it was first taken over by the CHP from the MHP in 2019, and it has been reduced to $362 million as of today.
Erdoğan said the municipalities can begin to clear their debts by paying their unpaid insurance premiums to the Social Security Institution (SGK).
CHP says the party is being forced to pay off debt accumulated over the years under the rule of AKP or MHP mayors.
Following Erdoğan’s call, Labor Minister Vedat Işıkhan announced that municipalities, no matter from which party, have already been notified of their amount of debt, through the SGK.
Işıkhan said the municipalities owe a debt of 96 billion lira ($2.9 billion) to the SGK for unpaid insurance premiums and that they should pay it off as soon as possible.
He added that 67.7 percent of this debt is owed by CHP-run cities.
Zeybek also revealed the list of 10 district municipalities taken over by the CHP in the March local elections with the highest debt amounts ranging between 1.4 billion lira and 498 million lira.
Meanwhile, CHP leader Özgür Özel on Wednesday reiterated his earlier remarks about the attempt of a “financial coup” by the government against CHP-run municipalities, claiming that the AKP is unsettled by the achievements of the opposition municipalities and thus wants to paralyze their work.
Former AKP mayors have faced frequent accusations of leaving behind large debts after the March 31 elections.
In many municipalities where the mayorship was transferred from the AKP or the MHP to other parties, the new mayors have revealed the municipalities’ debts and the lavish spending during the tenure of the former mayors.
The new mayors accused the former AKP and MHP mayors of squandering the public’s money given the fact that even many district municipalities, with populations not exceeding 100,000, have debts amounting to millions of lira.