In yet another example of growing government pressure on opposition-run municipalities in Turkey, Turkish prosecutors have launched investigations of three municipalities run by main opposition party mayors on accusations of irregular spending and unpaid debts to the government, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Prosecutors are now investigating the İstanbul and Ankara metropolitan municipalities in addition to the Beykoz district municipality in İstanbul. All three are run by Republican People’s Party (CHP) mayors who were elected to these posts in the March 31 local elections when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) sustained its worst election defeat.
Interior ministry inspectors have been commissioned to conduct financial investigations based on a request from prosecutors. The municipalities are accused of squandering public money through irregular spending and not paying off their municipal debts to government agencies, the Social Security Institution (SGK), in particular.
İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, seen as the most powerful political rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, called the investigations of CHP municipalities “simply an act of judicial harassment” launched on orders from the government. İmamoğlu also criticized judicial authorities for not initiating any investigations of AKP-run municipalities for years and accused the government of carrying out “character assassination” against opposition-run municipalities.
Payments for concerts
At the center of allegations of illegal spending are payments made to some popular singers who were invited to perform at municipal events.
The Ankara Municipality has been accused of paying 69 million lira ($2 million) to singer Ebru Gündeş for a concert on October 29, which marked the 101st anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Republic.
The municipality, however, denied the claim on X last week, saying that the net cost to organize the concert was 44 million lira ($1.2 million), which included all of the expenses, including payments made to some 100 staff members, arrangement for a stage and sound system and other costs.
Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş said on X that two inspectors from the interior ministry are performing inspections of his municipality and he has no concerns about giving an account of their financial transactions.
“No one can surpass us in terms of accountability. We stand by our word, if there is a crime, [the one responsible] will be punished. We expect the same behavior from all public institutions and municipalities,” Yavaş said on X.
Unpaid debts
Former AKP mayors have been accused of leaving behind large debts since the March 31 elections. In many municipalities where the mayorship was transferred from the AKP or its far-right ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), to the CHP or the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), the new mayors have revealed outstanding municipality debts and lavish spending that occurred during the tenure of the previous mayors.
Beykoz Mayor Alaattin Köseler said in statement on Thursday that when he took over the municipality in April from an AKP mayor, the municipal debt was around 3.5 billion lira, of which they have paid off 588 million lira, so far.
CHP leader Özgür Özel said the AKP government was trying to discredit CHP-run municipalities in the eyes of voters due to the AKP’s failure in the local elections.
In the March 31 local elections, the CHP emerged as the leading party for the first time in 47 years, securing 37.7 percent of the vote, maintaining control of key cities and securing substantial gains in other regions, while the AKP garnered only 35.4 percent.
The CHP’s election victory led to concerns that Erdoğan might resort to measures designed to hinder the operations of opposition municipalities or discredit them in the eyes of the public in retaliation for his party’s election loss.
Özel described the financial investigations as politically motivated and aimed at punishing the people who voted for CHP mayoral candidates. He also complained about the lack of judicial action on alleged earlier irregularities in the İstanbul and Ankara municipalities, which were taken over from AKP mayors in the local elections of 2019 in a huge blow to the AKP.
According to Özel, although dozens of criminal complaints were filed against the former mayors and municipal officials of these cities by the new mayors, prosecutors have taken no action so far.
The investigations into the three CHP municipalities come shortly after a party mayor, the Esenyurt district mayor in İstanbul, was removed from his post, arrested and replaced with a government-appointed official last month on terrorism accusations.
The removal of CHP mayor Ahmet Özel, along with three mayors from the DEM Party last week, has attracted widespread criticism for violating the people’s will and being anti-democratic.
The AKP government gave the first signs of its intention to exert financial and judicial pressure on opposition-run municipalities when President Erdoğan announced in July that the finance ministry was working on a plan to collect debts owed by the municipalities.
The CHP accused him of trying to stage a “financial coup” against opposition municipalities.