Restricting municipalities’ powers on transportation in metropolitan areas - Tailor-made laws in the Western Balkans and Turkey

Regulation amending the regulation of metropolitan municipalities’ coordination centres (Official Gazette, 19 February 2020, No. 31044)

Regulation

Substantive: the regulation limits the power of the metropolitan municipality mayors and gives more authority over transport and logistics to the central government

Personal: local governments and metropolitan municipality mayors

Territorial: national

Temporal: until abrogated

19 February 2020

Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of the Environment and Urbanisation

It was not submitted to Parliament because Article 9 of Law No. 5216 grants the authority to make regulations on the membership structure and operational principles of UKOMEs to the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of the Environment.

The amendment to the regulation came in the first year after the 2019 local elections. Criticism from opposition MPs initially focused on the working areas of ministries that are now authorised to appoint members to UKOMEs under the amended regulation. Their main argument was that the functions of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services and the Ministry of the Environment are irrelevant to the functions of UKOMEs. The opposition’s main concern is that the new amendment enhances the Justice and Development Party’s strategy to block the provision of municipality services by city councils (see here). They define the regulation as a clear sign of a “power grab” after the ruling party’s losses in local elections (see here and here).

Three developments, one before and two after the new regulation, show clear signs of its tailor-made nature.

First, just before adoption of the amendment, an increase in public transport fees in Istanbul received UKOME approval with the support of members appointed by the municipality. The decision sparked an immediate, forceful reaction from the Justice and Development Party (see here).

Second, a few months after the amended regulation, a municipal proposal to allow 6,000 additional taxi licences in Istanbul was rejected three times by UKOME even though it was largely supported by taxi owners and Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. İmamoğlu claimed that government-appointed UKOME members cast their votes on the orders of the Justice and Development Party.

Third, following UKOME's rejection of new taxi licences, another proposal put forward by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality to renew a discount on transfer fees in a particular railway system (Marmaray) in Istanbul was also rejected by UKOME (see here).

As a majority of UKOME members are appointed by the central government under the amended regulation, the three developments show not only that central authority has gained an upper hand in local public transport issues but also that UKOME members appointed by the central government act as a bloc to block municipalities’ actions in transport-related issues (see here).

Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of the Environment and Urbanisation

From 19 February 2020

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has appealed the regulation to the Council of State (see here).

The Council of State has yet to issue its verdict. Meanwhile, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has called on the Union of Municipalities of Turkey to speak up and take action against the decision, but it has yet to do so (see here). İmamoğlu has called the amendment an unfortunate decision by the government to limit the ability of opposition-controlled municipalities to serve the public.

The main opposition party (the Republican People’s Party) and its ally the Good Party have also taken steps to publicise UKOME rejections and condemned them as decisions “against public needs” (see here and here).

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has attempted to find a way round UKOME rejections by dividing proposals into several separate ones; however, the separate proposals have also been rejected (see here).

Transport & infrastructure

Justice and Development Party (AKP)

Local governments; metropolitan municipality mayors

By holding local elections, citizens vote for candidates to lead their city in a new direction. Limiting municipalities’ powers by enacting such regulations after election losses undermines the democratic will of citizens. Municipalities are in control of public transport within metropolitan borders. As a result, the powers of democratically elected mayors should not be restricted with such an intent and by such a method (see here).

UKOME’s new authority to regulate taxis, shared taxis and shuttle buses, which constitute a major economic sector in major cities like Istanbul, might have an impact on the allocation of resources. In major cities, any change in the number of taxi licences would probably cause a fluctuation in licence fees, which amount to approximately TL2.2 million. It is argued that the new regulation enables the central government to keep control of this significant economic sector through UKOME, and it is keen to use its authority in favour of private capital holders instead of public needs (see here, here and here).

The amendment undermines the democratic will of citizens. As a unilateral act of the government, stripping power from municipalities is a particular manifestation of an undemocratic practice (see here).

It is also claimed that the “autonomy” of metropolitan municipalities is being violated because the majority of UKOME members are appointed by the central government under the new regulation (see here).

In Parliament, opposition MPs roundly criticised the new regulation and characterised it as an “act of revenge” on municipalities lost by AKP in the March 2019 elections and as a “hijacking of authority” (see here).

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