Erdoğan's plan to take over municipalities revealed: No one knows about it!

The background of the "municipal management" remarks made by AKP President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the AKP Parliamentary Group Meeting on May 14 has begun to become clear. 

It is stated that the main purpose of the new regulation, in which Erdoğan emphasized "authority confusion" in his speech, is to increase central control, especially over metropolitan municipalities.

ONLY A NARROW CIRCLE KNOWS THE PLAN

According to information reflected in AKP corridors, Erdoğan is carrying out the new restructuring work regarding municipalities with only a small and narrow staff. It is rumored that even cabinet ministers and party executives are unaware of the details of the plan. 

It is stated that the work has not yet been presented to official boards, and that some high-level figures even learned about this project from the press.

According to the column by Nefes newspaper writer Nuray Babacan, Erdoğan's new municipal restructuring envisions granting more authority to governors and district governors. 

Thus, investments, expenditures, and the determination of priorities will pass into the hands of the central government. According to Babacan, with this plan, the influence of mayors will be reduced to a symbolic level.

THE ERA OF "MAYORS WHO COLLECT TRASH"

According to what is being discussed in the corridors, in the new system, mayors will only be authorized in limited areas such as cleaning and landscaping. Babacan summarized this situation as "mayors who almost only collect trash and plant flowers." Real power in local administration will pass to the governorships and district governorships.

The plan also includes strengthening provincial special administrations. This step, which Erdoğan signaled with the words "We must make the duties of our governors and district governors more active," means that all public resources in cities will be managed from a single center.

It is claimed that the "authority sharing" and "new municipal status" statements in Erdoğan's group speech are specifically aimed at metropolitan municipalities managed by the opposition, such as Istanbul and Ankara. Comments are being made in the corridors that "Urban rent changed hands in the last two local elections. The goal is to reconnect these revenues to the central administration."

LOCAL REVENUES WILL ALSO BE CONNECTED TO THE CENTER

According to the new restructuring plan, the financial resources collected by municipalities will now also be audited by central institutions. Erdoğan had used the expressions, "Revenues allocated from the public and collected locally must be brought into a more transparent and auditable structure" regarding this issue.

Information coming from AKP corridors shows that this change will be supported not only by administrative but also by legal regulations. With a new "municipal law," it is aimed to limit the powers of elected local administrators and empower appointed bureaucrats.