Talk about the banality of evil. Okay, let’s not. Let’s instead simply chalk up the latest opposition municipality to have been seized by the Turkish government and placed under the control of an interior ministry appointee, a so-called trustee.

On February 15, the interior ministry said it had installed such a trustee at the head of the Van Metropolitan Municipality in eastern Turkey. You can no longer count the number of municipalities seized by the Erdogan administration since the March 2024 local elections on two hands. The total now stands at 11, including nine that were won at the polls by the country’s main pro-Kurdish party, DEM. The two others are municipalities held by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

For good measure, the government has also arrested the CHP mayor of Besiktas district in Istanbul. However, it did not seize the municipality in this case. The district lawmakers were able to elect a new mayor in line with Turkish legislation.

Just so we can contain any surprise we might feel at the course of events, let’s recall: on June 4 last year, the day before the seizing of the first municipality in the wake of the elections, bne IntelliNews sadly advised: “In the coming period, Erdogan will seize almost all DEM's municipalities one by one as he did after the previous local elections held in 2019.”

Each time a municipality is grabbed by state officials, some reasons are provided for associated arrests and the seizure itself. These reasons, of course, are simply put out to fool the fools. The actions are in fact nakedly political. And there is no doubt that the decisions behind these actions are ultimately taken by Turkey’s leader of more than two decades, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It was DEM’s Hakkari that in June became the first municipality to be taken. In October, Esenyurt, a district in Istanbul held by the CHP, was next.

In November, DEM’s Mardin, Batman, Halfeti, Tunceli and Bahcesaray municipalities went to the wind in addition to the CHP’s Ovacik.

In January, DEM’s Akdeniz and Siirt municipalities were seized.

(You can see the full list on a Wikipedia page here.)

Did the failed coup really fail?

Following the failed coup attempt of July 2016, Erdogan the following month empowered himself via a presidential decree to force trustees on municipalities.

In the 2014 local elections, the main pro-Kurdish party, then named BDP, won 102 municipalities. Between 2016 and the next local polls, held in 2019, Erdogan seized 95 of them, including three metropolitan municipalities in addition to seven provincial centres, 62 towns and 23 rural districts.

In the 2019 local polls, the main pro-Kurdish party, by then named HDP, won 65 municipalities. Erdogan went on to yank 48 of them, including three metropolitan municipalities in addition to five provincial centres, 45 towns and 12 rural districts.

In the 2024 local elections, the main pro-Kurdish party, which by then had switched to the name DEM, the name it still bears, won 78 municipalities, namely three metropolitan municipalities, seven provincial centres, 58 towns and 10 districts.

So far, nine of them have gone over to enforced government control.

Real target Imamoglu

In the new local government cycle that began with the March 2024 poll results, it is the seizing of CHP municipalities that has emerged as a new phenomenon.

Those who watch Turkey with any seriousness know that the real target is Istanbul’s CHP mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

To Erdogan, Imamoglu is a slippery adversary. He is not just flexible, he is liquid. Erdogan cannot get a grip. Imamoglu slips through his fingers.

You might say that Imamoglu is able to take the form of any “pot” on any shelf he wishes. He is a Kurd with the Kurds, a Turk to the followers of the late Turkish racist Nihal Atsiz, Islamist at the mosque, secular at the fish restaurant… and so on.

Knowing Imamoglu is a real threat, Erdogan hangs his Sword of Damocles over his foe’s head. What does he plan as an intended end-game? Will he move to jail Imamoglu? Or ban him from politics?

Perhaps, even Erdogan is not too sure as yet what his final move should be. It will depend on many factors, both domestic and international.

However, Turkey’s president keeps his Sword of Damocles handy. To Imamoglu, wherever he makes a meaningful move, it appears. Imamoglu knows he needs some fancy footwork. He has to keep it smart. As things stand, he must still avoid directly challenging Erdogan. But on March 23, the CHP is set to announce him as its candidate for the presidency.

Talks with Ocalan

Seizing a bunch of Kurdish municipalities might seem an odd thing to do when at the same time one wants to hold talks with Abullah Ocalan, the long-imprisoned leader of the militant political organisation and armed guerilla movement Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). At the same time, the clashes between the PKK and the Turkish forces and proxy forces in Iraq and Syria also continue.

In January, Human Rights Watch (HRW) wrote in the Turkey section of its World Report 2025 that the process aimed at finding a breakthrough with Ocalan had not addressed the rights deficit endured by the Kurds.

The Syria emerging following the December fall of the Assad regime is being discussed. Erdogan, it is clear, is supposed to as part of the process recognise the Kurdish-controlled entity in northern Syria. A story is being developed to provide Erdogan with the required space and cover for his move.

Awaiting the orange man

So far, since Donald Trump took over the White House on January 20, he has not given the “brown folk of the Middle East” the time of day. However, he has done one favour for Erdogan, who is constantly in trouble with the US judiciary. On February 14, Reuters reported that US federal prosecutors had asked a judge to drop the charges pressed against New York mayor Eric Adams, who is being tried for receiving bribes that some observers are trying to trace back to the Turkish presidency.

During his first term, Trump assisted Erdogan in relation to investigations into Ankara helping Iran dodge sanctions and into Erdogan security goons, who in May 2017 set about beating up protestors gathered outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC.

Turkish and Kurdish oligarchs have, meanwhile, been holding more and more meetings. They want to be ready to exploit any opportunities that emerge from the long-awaited Trump “ruling” on how to deal with Turkey. Or should it not go in their favour, they want to be ready to duck and dive.

Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to visit the “Trump White House 2.0”. Trump then moved to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued a Gaza war crimes warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest. He also cut US funding for South Africa, the country that filed the complaint against Netanyahu at the ICC.

During his first term, the orange man ordered all of the US’s Arab proxies to officially recognise Israel. Currently, no Arabian state in the Middle East is kicking up a fuss over their Jewish neighbour.

​​Since Palestinian Hamas launched its kamikaze attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Iran has lost its influence over the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Syria.

Iran can be seen as potentially the only remaining big threat that Israel faces. Its presence outside its borders is now only significant in Yemen and Iraq. It would be no surprise if Israel "solves" its last problem during the second Trump term of office.

Do not let the media fool you. All the US proxies, including the Turks and the Kurds, have served in concert and harmony during the Americans’ post-9/11 Iraq and Syria operations. They remain obedient. They remain on the same path.