A new trustee model for municipalities
The AKP is pursuing a new model in which mayors elected from opposition parties, despite gaining power through the majority vote of the people, would only be able to exercise that power under the supervision and permission of public officials.
While evaluating the new era entered with the PKK's decision to lay down arms, President Erdoğan gave a good news including a confession about the trustee practices that turned into a punishment: “Trustee practices will once again become exceptional...” The expression “once again exceptional” is, of course, an admission of how legal rules, meant to be applied regardless of person, time or circumstance, have been turned into political tools. That’s one side of the story...
After suffering a major defeat in the local elections of 31 March 2024, the government both politically weakened and financially strained has repeatedly revealed new revenge plans. These were voiced by Erdoğan, coalition partner Bahçeli and other government spokespeople.
The country has been waking up to a new operation against opposition-run municipalities almost daily. Under the pretext of Social Security Institution (SGK) debts, a directive was issued to “shake down” municipalities. Revenues were cut at the source. Access to credit was blocked. That wasn’t all: mayors and municipal officials were arrested and imprisoned on charges that failed to convince the broader public. The trustee model once seen in the eastern and southeastern provinces was extended across the entire country.
CHP MUNICIPALITIES TARGETED
During his party’s group meeting two days ago, Erdoğan stated that with the start of a new political era, the trustee practice would become an exception. Yet, the rest of his speech also hinted that this “exception” is set to become a permanent fixture in local governance.
The Palace regime’s search for a new model to punish opposition municipalities and reclaim power lost at the ballot box through non-political means was openly voiced by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 13 May. While he claimed that the trustee practice, previously imposed on DEM Party and its predecessors, would now be applied only in exceptional cases, he also revealed a new plan aimed at CHP-run municipalities, now elevated to enemy number one on the government’s list.
A wide-reaching new trustee model is in the works, where a body called the “Provincial Development Board” consisting of governors, district governors, and representatives of relevant ministries would take over the powers of city and district municipalities.
LAW TO BE AMENDED
Claiming that municipal administrations have become corrupt, Erdoğan announced that a new model for metropolitan, provincial and district municipalities would be introduced through an amendment to the Municipal Law. It quickly became clear that even AKP’s own parliamentary group leaders were caught off guard by the preparation. Like many other legislative changes, the amendment appears to have been crafted in the Palace and will likely be presented to AKP MPs only after it is finalised, with instructions to sign it.
Following Erdoğan’s remarks, the core aim of the amendment has come into focus: Opposition mayors, though elected by the majority, will be allowed to exercise their authority only under the supervision and permission of public officials. All spending will be subject to oversight, zoning plan changes will require approval from the same mechanism, and mayors will be easily punishable on trivial grounds.
Preparations for the new model where the Provincial Development Board will operate like a trustee, are still in early stages. Some of the changes expected to be included in this regulation, which Erdoğan mentioned and which is expected to come to the agenda in the new legislative year, are described as follows:
- The duties, powers, and responsibilities of municipalities will be redefined under Law No. 5393 and the Metropolitan Municipality Law. Their powers will be restricted.
- Urban transformation projects, considered a new rent opportunity by the AKP, will be accelerated. Governors, district governors and ministry bureaucrats will also be authorised in decision-making and implementation.
- Municipalities will share zoning permit authority with the board.
- Municipal budgets and spending priorities will be subject to tighter control. The use of these powers will depend on a mechanism where the board has strong influence.
The restriction of such powers and the transfer of authority to ministries, governorates, district governorships and Special Provincial Administrations effectively leaves local governments, one of democracy’s key institutions at the mercy of a one-man regime. This project, targeting another critical front of democracy, will in effect render local elections meaningless.
It would be incomplete to view all these preparations as merely an attempt to reclaim lost political power or to restrain political opponents. It’s widely acknowledged that local administrations and their financial resources played a critical role in enabling the AKP to remain in power for over two decades. It should not be forgotten that being cut off from the municipal resources that fuelled the formation of new circles of influence and the transfer of public wealth to specific individuals and groups has been a major source of motivation for this move.
Note: This text has been translated from the original Turkish version titled Belediyeler için yeni kayyum modeli, published in BirGün newspaper on May 16, 2025.
