The Turkish Labor Ministry has imposed financial sanctions on six municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) aimed at collecting debt owed the government, Turkish Minute reported.
The ministry is seeking to collect the debt owed by the six cities including the metropolitan municipalities of İstanbul, Ankara, Adana and Mersin in addition to the Şişli district municipality in İstanbul for their unpaid premiums to the Social Security Institution (SGK).
The six municipalities have also had their bank accounts blocked due to the financial sanctions. Reports said the bank accounts of their subsidiary companies have been affected as well.
The Ankara Municipality has the highest outstanding debt to the government due to unpaid SGK premiums among the six cities that have been hit with sanctions, the reports said, putting its amount owing at TL 5.7 billion ($163 million). It is followed by the İzmir Municipality with TL 5.3 billion, then by the İstanbul Municipality with TL 3.3 billion.
The CHP and the İstanbul Municipality denied the reports about the imposition of financial sanctions on the six CHP-run municipalities.
The İstanbul Municipality said in a statement on X that contrary to what the media reports say, there is no block on its bank accounts or those of its affiliates.
The CHP group deputy chairman spoke cautiously, while denying the media reports about the six CHP-run municipalities.
“There is no action against any of our municipalities. If some journalists write something, they are getting information from inside. We have talked to the mayors and administrators of the municipalities in question, and there is no such situation, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen,” Gökhan Günaydın said in televised remarks on Monday.
The alleged measures come shortly after a recent call from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who told Labor Minister Vedat Işıkhan to “shake up” opposition-run municipalities due to their debts, in remarks that frustrated the CHP.
Erdoğan addressed Işıkhan regarding the municipalities unpaid SGK debts following a cabinet meeting on December 9, saying: “Mr. Minister, it would be beneficial for you to shake them up more decisively.”
Erdoğan gave the first signs of his government’s apparent intention to exert financial and judicial pressure on opposition-run municipalities when he announced in July that the finance ministry was working on a plan to collect debts owed by the municipalities.
The CHP accused him of trying to stage a “financial coup” against opposition municipalities.
The CHP claims that Erdoğan is seeking to paralyze opposition municipalities financially to undermine their ability to provide services as revenge for his Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) electoral defeat in March.
In the March 31 local elections, the CHP emerged as the leading party for the first time in 47 years, securing 37.7 percent of the vote, maintaining control of key cities and securing substantial gains in other regions, while the AKP came in second, garnering only 35.4 percent.
The CHP’s election victory led to widespread concerns that Erdoğan might resort to measures that would hinder the operations of the opposition municipalities or discredit them in the eyes of the public in retaliation for his party’s election loss.
Last month, prosecutors also launched investigations of three municipalities run by CHP mayors on accusations of irregular spending and unpaid debts to the government.
İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, seen as the most powerful political rival to Erdoğan, called the investigations of CHP municipalities “simply an act of judicial harassment” launched on orders from the government. İmamoğlu also criticized judicial authorities for not initiating any investigations of AKP-run municipalities for years and accused the government of carrying out “character assassination” against opposition-run municipalities.
In yet another measure targeting the opposition municipalities, the government introduced measures to cut public funds to municipalities and their subsidiaries to offset their outstanding debts, according to a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette in late November.
