The AKP government has turned the attempted coup and the state of emergency to their advantage. Reshaping the state with the statutory decrees they issue based on the state of emergency laws, the AKP government wants to pass several laws that they have had to postpone with the latest omnibus bill they are presenting to the parliament. With the amendments in the omnibus bill, the AKP government will put their plan to confiscate the municipalities’ and people’s property into action.

The omnibus bill also proposes changes to the Municipalities Act. According to this, in the event that the mayor, deputy mayor or council members “committ one of the crimes of terrorism”, the Interior Ministry or the Governorate will be able to appoint any person who fulfills the requirements to be elected as mayor, deputy mayor or council member. This way, the elected persons will be replaced with arbitrarily appointed persons and the will of the people will be ignored.

The change proposed for the Article 52 of the Municipalities Act adds on to the previous change. According to this, mayors, deputy mayors or council members who have been removed from office due to allegations of “aiding and abetting terrorism” will be replaced by the Interior Ministry in metropolitan and provincial municipalities and the Governorate in others within 15 days, even if they have been previously elected by the council.

The omnibus bill also regulates the Article 563 of the Municipalities Act. According to this, in instances of “snow management, events of terror and violence, and other such instances where immediate intervention is necessary”, the municipalities will be considered not fulfilling their duties and will be discharged by the Interior Ministry.

ATTEMPTS TO ELIMINATE DBP FROM DBP-HELD MUNICIPALITIES

These proposed changes to the Municipalities Act are widely regarded as “a coup against the popular will” and “coup era practices”, and are considered attempts at removing DBP from the DBP municipalities and making them surrender.

The AKP government gives the Interior Ministry power to confiscate all property belonging to the public institutions and other public legal entities, including provincial special administrations and municipalities, for “security reasons”.

This will mean property belonging to all public institutions in Kurdish cities and other oppositional urban spaces being turned over to the Interior Ministry. The proposed change aims to legalize the illegal confiscation of the still standing public institutions in the Kurdish cities burned to the ground.

THE MINISTRY WILL BE THE ONLY AUTHORITY

The omnibus bill also proposes changes to the Terror and Compensation of Damages By Terror Act. The Cabinet and the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation will be the only authority in all processes involving the tearing down of real estate, evacuation, new urban planning, infrastructure projects, licensing and construction without the need to seek consent from the owners of the damaged property in areas deemed “risky”. Local administrations will be completely cut off from these processes as well. The current law states that if the owners of the property can not be reached, construction will wait until their consent is procured, but the proposed changes remove this.