The European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning the dismissal and arrest of opposition mayors in Turkey, calling for sanctions on officials responsible for replacing them with government-appointed trustees, citing concerns over the erosion of local democracy.
Since the March local elections, when opposition candidates won in several cities, including İstanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has dismissed 10 opposition mayors —the overwhelming majority from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) — and replaced them with government-appointed trustees.
Nacho Sanchez Amor, the European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur, referred to the practice as “a proof of the abysmal level of democratic deterioration in Turkey” during Wednesday’s plenary session in Strasbourg.
Amor also discussed a 2016 law enacted after a coup attempt that grants the government the authority to dismiss mayors and city council members and appoint state trustees to replace them based on terrorism investigations, citing national security concerns.
He said the law was “undemocratic” but that the practice was “even more so” because there is nothing in the law preventing the government from appointing a local councilor from the party that won the elections instead of a commissioner from the party that lost them — the ruling AKP.
“Türkiye is experiencing a worrying level of democratic deterioration. … This is a clear attack on the very foundation of democracy!” Amor also said in a tweet on Thursday regarding the trustee appointments.
The resolution adopted on Thursday called for sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, on Turkish officials who assume the role of trustee and those who appoint them under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime (EU GHRSR), citing it as a violation of human rights and democratic responsibilities.
The GHRSR was inspired by the Global Magnitsky Act, which refers to laws enabling governments to impose sanctions on foreign individuals involved in human rights abuses or significant corruption. These laws originated in the United States, which passed the first Magnitsky legislation in 2012 following the torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky in Russia in 2009. Since then, several other countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union, have enacted similar legislation.
In the resolution the parliament also demanded the release, acquittal and reinstatement of all elected mayors unless there is credible, court-verified evidence of wrongdoing, in line with international legal standards, and called for judicial reforms to abolish the trustee system and ensure judicial independence.
Reaffirming its commitment to supporting democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Turkey, the parliament called on the EU to closely monitor the situation and take the necessary diplomatic measures and urged the Turkish government to fully implement all European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings, including those involving political imprisonment.
Following the implementation of the 2016 law, trustees were assigned to 101 municipalities, predominantly those led by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which was then the main pro-Kurdish party, with 151 city council members also dismissed.
In the 2019 local elections, only six of the 65 municipalities won by the HDP were governed without trustee appointments. Major cities with significant Kurdish populations, like Diyarbakır, Van and Mardin, were put under trustee control, largely due to allegations of terrorism support among elected mayors. Critics argue that these appointments undermine local democracy and sideline voters’ choices, with rights groups labeling the moves “anti-democratic.”
The removal and replacement of Kurdish mayors are largely due to convictions and charges on terrorism-related offenses, from membership in an armed group to disseminating propaganda for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The PKK has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that has killed thousands and is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.