Local Governments: The Real Determinant of National Politics...
In world politics, local governments are not just technical units that collect garbage and pour asphalt; they are strategic power centers that determine the fate of national politics. This is because the mayoralty is a field of direct contact with the public, where legitimacy is reproduced every day, and where leadership is seen for what it really is.
That is why in the modern political history of many countries, the story of the rise of national leaders begins with cities.
Jacques Chirac is one of the most instructive examples of this. The networks of public relations, service capacity and crisis management he established as Mayor of Paris carried him first to the post of Prime Minister and then to the Presidency. Governing Paris gave Chirac the authority to govern France.
The same line was seen in France with names like Hollande and Hidalgo, and in Latin America with strong leaders emerging from the São Paulo-Rio axis. Those who transformed cities also transformed countries.
One of the most dramatic examples of this upward trajectory is Turkey.
Welfare Party and the March to Power “From Local to General”
The 1994 elections clearly demonstrated the political leverage of local governments in Turkey.
The Welfare Party failed to gain a foothold at the national level, after winning Istanbul and Ankara:
- It strengthened the image of service municipalism,
- Institutionalized social assistance networks,
- It made its own cadres visible and effective,
- It gained social legitimacy,
- It has become an “alternative power” for state administration.
The most critical turning point in this process was Tayyip Erdoğan's mayoralty in Istanbul.
Today, the nucleus of more than twenty-two years of power was laid in the Istanbul administration between 1994 and 1998.
Local government is the biggest springboard for national power. This is an obvious fact in Turkey.
This is precisely why the nature of local government practice determines the political direction of the country.
1973: Ahmet İsvan and the First Great Break of Populist Municipalism
Ahmet İsvan was one of the earliest to recognize this reality in Turkey.
When Istanbul elected Isvan in 1973, it did not just elect a new mayor; it elected a new culture of governance.
İsvan's line was a populist line that required extraordinary courage at the time:
- He founded the predecessors of public bread,
- Developed public mechanisms for access to cheap and healthy food,
- Initiated infrastructure and social life arrangements in slums,
- Opened social solidarity facilities for the poor,
- It freed planning from “contractor relations” and based it on public reason,
- He took the municipal administration out of the closed-door rent-seeking system and made it more transparent.
This period opened up a completely different breathing space in Istanbul during the years when the right-left conflict was at its harshest.
Ahmet İsvan's municipalism was the first laboratory of social democratic local government in Turkey.
And the seeds he sowed would grow into a great political wave years later.
1989: The Big Bang of Populist Heritage
The 1989 local elections were a major break in the countrywide resurgence of the populist line initiated by Ahmet İsvan in the 70s.
During this period, especially Ünal Ozan and many other social democratic mayors expanded public sector municipalism:
- Public bread factories,
- Nurseries, cultural centers, sports fields,
- Social solidarity mechanisms,
- Accessible public services,
- Transparent and accountable processes...
“The understanding that ”the municipality touches the bread, water and dignity of the citizens" has created a real social response.
The 1989 wave soon gained a strong foothold in Turkey's big cities.
But the economic crisis of the 90s, political fragmentation and central government repression weakened this legacy.
2019: The Rebirth of Populist Municipalism with a Modern Face
The 2019 local elections, like 1989, were a resurgence of populist municipalism.
And the architect, strategist and founding mind of this rise was Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
- Read the expectations of the society correctly during the nomination process,
- Establishing block politics,
- Building the architecture of alliance,
- Disciplined management of electoral strategy from a single center,
It was the main determinant of winning the metropolitan cities, especially Istanbul and Ankara.
The success story of 2019 was as much the result of Kılıçdaroğlu's wisdom, patience and coordination during his presidency as it was the personal talents of the mayors.
This time the line appeared in a more modern, more technological, more transparent language:
- Live auction tables,
- Open data applications,
- Institutionalized social assistance,
- Digitalized municipal governance,
- Participation and data-driven decision-making processes...
The ’people-first municipalism“ approach initiated by İsvan in 1973 was combined with modern governance and regained strength.
After years, society had the opportunity to say yes again to the question “Does municipal government clean up?”.
Post 2024: Operations, Crises and Drift
After Kılıçdaroğlu left the presidency, the CHP's central coordination power weakened.
This weakening accelerated the post-2024 drift and municipalities became politically more isolated and vulnerable.
1. Corruption Operations: Interweaving Real, Political and Manipulative Dossiers
Operations against municipalities have accelerated:
- Some of it was based on real problems,
- Some of it was politically motivated,
- Some of them were completely inflated files.
This process, in which truth, manipulation and political operation were mixed together, dealt a blow to the “clean government” image of populist municipalism.
2. Economic Collapse: Municipalities Become Unable to Produce Services
After 2024, the economic crisis has strangled municipalities:
- Revenues are down,
- Expenses increased,
- Debts have become unmanageable,
- Central government pressures have clogged service capacity.
Social policies, the natural domain of populist municipalism, suffered a major blow.
3. Intra-Party Directionlessness and the Isolation of Municipal Administrations
The coordination and political center in 2019 melted away after 2024:
- Factional wars within the party,
- Inconsistent explanations,
- Local governments are left unattended,
- Lack of central coordination in times of crisis.
This accelerated the drift of municipalities.
What's Left of Today
The road Ahmet İsvan opened in 1973 had three basic principles:
- Publicism,
- Justice,
- Prioritizing the dignity of the people.
These principles grew in 1989 and modernized in 2019.
The post-2024 drift is not the end of this line,
is the disintegration of the political and economic backbone to carry this line.
Last Word
Ahmet İsvan's municipalism taught Turkey this:
Urban management is not a rent-seeking scheme, but a matter of conscience.
Today's fractured municipalities are struggling not because they have forgotten this legacy, but because the political coordination and economic power to carry it forward has been weakened.
But history shows:
Every time populist municipalism returns, society breathes.