Ahmet Özer said that Esenyurt does not need a new trustee and that what is actually required is the reinstatement of the elected mayor. The statement was published on social media. Ahmet Özer, the Esenyurt Mayor who had been removed from office, made a statement on his social media account following the dismissal of Deputy Governor Can Aksoy, who had been appointed as trustee in his place.
Özer said that what Esenyurt needs is not a new trustee but the reinstatement of the elected mayor. He stated that fulfilling the requirements of the national will manifested at the ballot box is an indispensable condition of democracy and the rule of law.
He argued that appointing another trustee in place of a trustee would in no way bring back the time the district had lost. He said the loss of services would increase. Calling for the corruption allegations concerning the Aksoy period to be investigated transparently, Özer stated that Aksoy’s dismissal without being held accountable amounted to a reward in the eyes of the public, and demanded that all those responsible be held accountable before the law.
He expressed to the public that his return to office was the expectation not only of himself but also of the district’s residents, whose will had been disregarded. This was Özer’s demand. “Our demand is not a privilege, but the fulfillment of the requirements of democracy,” he said.
Why it matters
The dismissal of the trustee reopens the question of how the municipal administration in Esenyurt will take shape from now on: the district will either be run by a new trustee, or the status of the elected mayor who was removed from office will return to the agenda. Özer’s demand paves the way for this decision to be read not merely as a personnel change, but as a new test of the tension between the will of the ballot box and central appointment. Whether the corruption allegations concerning the Aksoy period will be investigated is a separate uncertainty; a dismissal carried out without investigating the allegations runs the risk of being interpreted in the eyes of the public as a reward rather than accountability. This picture also leaves unclear how long the disruption to municipal services in the district will last. The development constitutes a concrete example for those debating the relationship between the practice of removing elected local administrators and appointing replacements in their place, and the principles of the rule of law.
Background
Ahmet is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 4 stories featuring this name over the last 90 days; the most recent is dated October 14, 2026.