Turkey has expanded presidential control over municipally owned companies, requiring local governments and their majority-owned firms to obtain presidential approval before setting up companies or cooperatives, acquiring shares or joining new ventures, Turkish Minute reported.
The measure was enacted through an omnibus law published in the Official Gazette on Friday.
The amendment applies to local administrations, their affiliated agencies, municipal unions, companies they have established and companies in which those bodies directly or indirectly own more than 50 percent of the capital, alone or together.
The new approval requirement covers the establishment of companies and cooperatives, capital contributions to existing or future companies and cooperatives, share acquisitions, including no-cost transfers and becoming a shareholder, partner or cooperative member.
Previous rules already required presidential approval for municipalities and other local administrations to establish commercial entities or make capital contributions. But legal commentary said the earlier wording did not clearly require approval when a municipally owned company established another company.
The change comes amid government pressure on local administrations controlled by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which defeated President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the March 31, 2024, local elections. The CHP finished first nationwide in a local election for the first time since 1977 and won many of Turkey’s largest cities, including İstanbul, Ankara, Bursa, Antalya and Adana.
Since then, opposition officials have accused the government of using criminal investigations, suspensions, trustee appointments, city council votes and party defections to weaken CHP control over local administrations. Twenty elected CHP mayors are in jail, while 25 CHP mayors have been suspended from office.
The campaign began with the arrest of Ahmet Özer, the CHP mayor of İstanbul’s Esenyurt district, in October 2024 and escalated after İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s main political rival and the CHP’s presidential candidate, was jailed in March 2025.
The latest legal change gives the presidency a direct role in decisions that can affect the finances, staffing and service capacity of opposition-run municipalities. Municipally owned companies are used by local administrations to carry out public services and manage commercial activities, making the approval requirement a tool with potential consequences beyond corporate law.
The amendment also follows a court ruling on Thursday that annulled the CHP’s 2023 party congress, effectively removing party leader Özgür Özel and reinstating former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The ruling added to an unprecedented judicial crackdown on the CHP since 2024, during which hundreds of party members and elected officials have been detained.
