The most fundamental finding of the report was the ongoing deep crisis of democratic representation in both assemblies. The report revealed that women and young people are invisible in both assemblies, and that the main agenda item in both assemblies is zoning decisions.
According to the report, a clear differentiation emerged in the agendas of the two city councils. It was determined that Istanbul's council focused on zoning and profit, while Ankara's council focused on these two issues as well as social support and rural development.
The report, which covers the period following the 31 March 2024 elections, archived 1,265 speeches and 1,930 decisions made by members of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, and 574 speeches and 1,889 decisions made by members of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality.
One in every two decisions in Istanbul concerns zoning
The report's clearest finding regarding Istanbul was that the council agenda was overwhelmingly dominated by zoning issues. Of the total 1,930 decisions taken by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Council, 1,085 were directly related to zoning.
The fact that more than half (56.22%) of the decisions were related to zoning and changes to plans demonstrates that the fundamental dynamics of Istanbul's politics and economy revolve around land and property management. The council functions almost like a giant ‘Zoning and Planning Committee.’ The fact that political conflicts are most intense on issues such as the municipality's financial resources, subsidiaries, and property sales confirms that the political struggle in Istanbul is based on ‘who will manage the city's resources.’
It was found that 60% to 70% of decisions made in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality on issues directly related to municipal resources, such as ‘affiliates,’ ‘tariffs/increases,’ ‘tenders,’ and ‘allocation cancellations,’ were made by majority vote, i.e., through political conflict.
The report noted that the Ankara Council has a more balanced agenda compared to Istanbul. While zoning (26.5%) remains the top priority in the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, issues such as social support (78 decisions), agriculture (61 decisions), and administrative activities like naming (183 decisions) also feature prominently on the decision agenda.
Women and young people are not represented in the local councils of two major cities
The report states that there is a deep crisis of democratic representation in both councils. While the percentage of female members is 9.32% in Ankara and 18.44% in Istanbul, women are extremely underrepresented in terms of speaking in the council, being among the most active speakers, and participating in technical and financial committees in particular.
The report shows that the number of members in their 20s in Istanbul does not even reach 2.5% of the total number of members, and that policies targeting young people are generally limited to the ‘student’ identity, with the issues of young people not in education not even being brought to the agenda.
- The platform belongs to men: 85.77% of speeches made at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) and 92.16% of speeches made at the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality (ABB) were made by male members.
- Women's representation in Ankara is below 10%: Only 15 of the 161 members of the ABB Assembly are women. This means that only 1 in 10 members of the capital's assembly is a woman.
- Young people are invisible in Istanbul: Only 2.5% of the members of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Assembly are in their twenties. In a city where millions of young people live, the representation of young people in the assembly is negligible.
Click here for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Assembly Monitoring Report prepared by the Centre for Democracy Research (CDR).