Opposition retakes Istanbul mayor's office to find powers shrinking
As Istanbul’s new Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu retakes office after beating the ruling party's candidate a second time, reports are emerging that his powers and those of other Turkish mayors are already being whittled down.
Istanbul’s mayor-elect Ekrem Imamoglu is due to be sworn in tomorrow after his thumping victory in the June 23 redo in what many observers see as a ground-shifting moment in Turkey’s turbulent politics.
Imamoglu invited citizens to attend the ceremony at the city hall on the European side of the city of 16 million via Twitter. “I await you all,” he said.
In preparation for the event, a giant banner picturing Turkey’s founder, Kemal Ataturk, was hoisted over the face of the Istanbul Municipality headquarters. Imamoglu had run on the ticket of the Republican People’s party (CHP), founded by Ataturk in 1923.
But even before Imamoglu reclaims the seat he was shoved off of by pressure from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it has emerged that his powers and those of fellow mayors across the country are being whittled down, part of a broader strategy to hobble opposition-run municipalities' to ability to govern effectively. Cumhuriyet reported that a Ministry of Commerce circular published in May took away mayoral authority to appoint the heads of municipality-run business enterprises and handed it over to district councils instead.
