5-point joint declaration from 414 CHP municipalities: 'Against all forms of attack'

CHP mayors gathered at the CHP Headquarters under the chairmanship of CHP Chairman Özgür Özel.

The agenda of the meeting included the government's trustee policy and attacks on municipalities, the warning letter sent by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change to municipalities and governorships regarding nurseries operated by municipalities, as well as Social Security Institution (SGK) debts and concert expenditures.

"AGAINST ALL FORMS OF ATTACK"

The final declaration stated, "We stand tall and united against every form of attack directed at our municipalities to prevent a change in government that would mean a new beginning for our country. We emphasize that these attacks are not directed at Republican People's Party municipalities and mayors, but at all our people, regardless of whether they voted for the CHP in the elections or not."

5-POINT DECLARATION

The 5-point joint declaration issued after the meeting included the following statements:

"1 - The trustee attack launched by the government against municipalities it could not win at the ballot box is an attempted political coup targeting the will of the people expressed at the polls, that is, the national will. Elected mayors against whom there is no final court verdict are being removed from office by trustee decisions taken by the Ministry of Interior, and their replacements are determined by appointment by the government rather than by election from municipal councils. In this way, the government seeks to destroy the last remaining bastions of democracy in our country. We will fight together against these attacks that target not only Esenyurt, Ovacık, or the voters in other municipalities where trustees have been appointed, but the entire nation and the nation's will, and we will never surrender to these illegitimate, extra-legal attempts targeting the national will. We will protect the people's municipalities and the people's will.

2 - The elected mayor of Esenyurt, Turkey's largest district, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Özer, has been kept in prison for exactly one month through conspiracy methods the government learned from its former partners and decisions made by legal executioners. This lawlessness, which targets not only Prof. Dr. Ahmet Özer and the Republican People's Party but all the people of Esenyurt, must end immediately, and our mayor must be released.

3 - Republican People's Party municipalities are filling the massive void left by the government in social state practices within their own means. All our people see this situation and appreciate our municipalities. The last local elections were the clearest proof of this. At the forefront of these exemplary practices are nurseries, which number over 650 and benefit more than 50 thousand of our children and their families. In our nurseries, our children have access to affordable, high-quality, safe, and qualified care services. Thanks to our nurseries, the path is opened for women's participation in employment and social life. The government's latest attempt to illegally close our nurseries targets not the nurseries, but women, children, and families. As the Republican People's Party, we will continue to increase the number of nurseries opened by our municipalities. Nurseries belong to the children, to the women, to the people. We will not let them be touched, we will not let them be closed!

4 - Another of the attacks carried out by the government to render Republican People's Party municipalities unable to function is the economic blockade that has been applied to our municipalities for years. Practices such as public banks avoiding granting loans, injustices in the distribution of resources by the central government to local administrations, and the arbitrary non-approval of international loans have been continuing for years. The seizure of significant revenue sources of municipalities, as is the case today in our İzmir Selçuk Municipality, is another example of these economic and financial pressures. The current SGK, tax, and public debts of Republican People's Party municipalities have arisen precisely because of these practices. Moreover, a significant portion of these debts remains from the AK Party era. Finally, with the Presidential Decree published on November 27, a path was paved for the debts of our municipalities' subsidiaries to be deducted from our municipalities' revenues. All of these aim to prevent our municipalities' populist municipal practices and the public's access to qualified public services. As Republican People's Party municipalities, we have not bowed to any of these pressures to date, we have continued to work without seeing these pressures as an excuse, and we will continue to do so from now on. We will continue to use public resources, that is, the people's money, in the most efficient and fair way, and to spend the people's money for the people.

5 - The burden of the economic crisis that has emerged due to the government's political preferences in favor of rent-seeking is being placed on the shoulders of the people. Against the harsh conditions caused by this economic bottleneck, as Republican People's Party municipalities, we stand most strongly by the side of women, youth, laborers, the unemployed, retirees, farmers, and producers, and we provide social protection to every segment in need. Against the cost-of-living crisis, CHP municipalities will continue to be safe harbors where the people take refuge against all the government's attacks and obstruction attempts. We will continue to work to give the people a breath of fresh air until we come to power in the next elections and lead Turkey out of this severe economic and social crisis. With this understanding, we will protect the laborers working in our municipalities against inflation and high costs, and unlike the government, we will not condemn laborers to wages even below the hunger threshold."