Politics Service
The country's leading poultry companies have had a ‘supervisor’ appointed under the guise of a ‘supervisory trustee’ on the grounds of unjustified price increases. The 13 companies placed under supervision as part of the investigation into the chicken and egg sector are among the largest in the industry. Justice Minister Akın Gürlek stated that arrest warrants had been issued for 32 individuals on the grounds that they had ‘disrupted the functioning of the market’; this announcement raised the possibility of similar operations being carried out in other sectors.
Under the authoritarian Palace regime, even the property rights of close allies of the ruling elite are not guaranteed. As millions turn away from the AKP, the one-man regime is seizing property, freedom, qualifications and the will of the people through single-signature decisions and the judiciary.
By neutralising the opposition through absolute nullity, tying municipalities to itself via the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Case and similar trials, and subjugating companies through investigations, the AKP is pursuing the creation of both economic and political resources. To this end, the Asset Management Fund (TMSF), used in corporate seizures, has become a giant corporation rivalling the country’s holding companies. Housing 1,156 companies and criticised for selling firms to AKP-affiliated capitalists at low prices, the TMSF holds assets approaching 1 trillion lira, making it the country’s fifth-largest corporate entity. The Turkish Wealth Fund (TVF), which has incorporated the public sector’s most important institutions, is directly accountable to Erdoğan through its portfolio comprising 36 companies across seven different sectors, two licences and real estate, as well as its unaccountable structure.
THEY HAVE SEIZED POWER
The regime, which has grown through seizures, has also usurped the will of 40% of the country. For the AKP, which has been in power for 23 years and fell to second place in the 2024 local elections, this election marked its greatest electoral defeat since the general elections of 7 June 2015. Following the elections that propelled the main opposition party, the CHP, into first place and saw a significant decline in the AKP’s vote share, the Palace regime moved to reclaim what it had lost through the seizure of the people’s will, the appointment of trustees, transfers of power and judicial pressure.
For the one-man regime, which failed to secure the desired outcome even in elections frequently criticised for their security, the solution lay in the usurpation of the people’s will through pressure and seizures, primarily wielding the judicial stick. Those expelled from their parties, such as Özkan Yalım from Uşak, disregarded the will of the voters by acting as whistleblowers as the government desired. As seen in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) case, even before the indictment was prepared, the testimonies of informants and secret witnesses were being dismantled one by one during the trial, leaving the Palace with no option but to resort to confiscation procedures.
Following the elections, trustees were appointed to 13 municipalities, two of which had CHP mayors and 11 of which had DEM Party mayors. In the process that began with the unlawful revocation of CHP presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu’s diploma on 18 March 2025 and his arrest and detention on 19 March, removal from office decisions were also issued against a large number of mayors. Whilst the regime sought to reclaim what it had lost at the ballot box through force, exactly 76 mayors joined the AKP ranks following the local elections. In terms of party distribution, the largest share was made up of mayors from the New Welfare Party (YRP) and those with CHP backgrounds. The largest wave of transfers after the election came from YRP local administrators, with 34 mayors moving from the YRP to the AKP. Within the CHP, mayors from municipalities such as Aydın Metropolitan, Şehitkamil and Yalova Altınova transferred to the AKP, bringing the total number of defections to 17. A further 25 mayors from various parties also switched to the AKP after being elected. With the transfer of Aydın Metropolitan Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu to the AKP, one Metropolitan Mayor, 44 District Mayors and 31 Town Mayors have now joined the AKP. Although the CHP blocked Keçiören Mayor Mesut Özarslan’s intention to join the AKP after resigning following his election, the resignations of seven councillors alongside him brought the council’s arithmetic into play. The municipalities of Beykoz, Bayrampaşa and Gaziosmanpaşa are also in the hands of AKP deputy mayors. The latest operation targeted the CHP-run Silivri Municipality, with 17 people, including Mayor Bora Balcıoğlu, being detained.
Under a one-man regime that monopolises economic life, nearly half the population and citizens’ constitutional rights, the country is being dragged towards becoming a nation ruled by a single president and a single company.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Tek adam, tek başkan, tek şirket, published in BirGün newspaper on June 13, 2026.
