Trustees Instead of Elected Mayors: Authoritarian Neoliberalism and the Removal of Kurdish Mayors in Turkey

Trustees Instead of Elected Mayors: Authoritarian Neoliberalism and the Removal of Kurdish Mayors in Turkey

Serhat Tutkal examines the Turkish state’s practice, since 2016, of removing elected pro-Kurdish mayors and appointing state trustees (kayyum) in their place without new elections. Comparing these removals with earlier cases going back to 1999, he argues that the way the government justifies them should be read through the lens of authoritarian neoliberalism, in which democratic mechanisms are subordinated to promises of economic development and better services.

Tutkal analyses a social media account promoting the services of trustee-run municipalities and 89 videos in which the trustees present their own work in Kurdish-majority cities, framing trusteeship as efficient, service-focused administration. Yet when local elections were held again in 2019, voters in those same 89 municipalities mostly elected pro-Kurdish candidates, despite unfair electoral conditions.

He concludes that this rhetoric can make the removal of elected representatives look like good governance, but that most residents continue to defend their right to choose their own local leaders.

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