Main opposition leader urges CHP mayors to appoint staff on ‘merit’

AFYON

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has urged his party’s mayors to appoint municipality staffers on “merit” in order to carry out a successful period of service.

“The only person who will do politics in a municipality is the mayor. Why do I stress on merit? Your staff are competent experts. Every move they will make will either be to your benefit or not. Every failure and success of theirs will be your failure or success,” Kılıçdaroğlu told CHP mayors on July 26 at a party workshop in the Central Anatolian province of Afyonkarahisar. CHP mayors across Turkey made gains in recent local elections.

“Every appointment you will make will be based on merit. [The appointees] will perform every task you entrust to them,” he said.

Kılıçdaroğlu also added that if officials at CHP municipalities are inclined to do politics, rather than perform their assigned tasks, the mayors should dismiss them.

“If [they] fail to perform their assigned tasks, you can conveniently remove them from duty,” he said.

“You must obey the principle of merit while appointing executives. You should definitely refrain from partisanship,” Kılıçdaroğlu added.

The party leader also said that the CHP mayors should continue projects launched by previous administrations that have served the public well.

Kılıçdaroğlu laid down fundamental principles to be adopted by the CHP mayors in the context of what he calls “populist municipality-running.”

These are, he said, “providing services without discrimination, affirmative action towards more impoverished neighborhoods, transparency, merit, and just governance.”

“You will not marginalize your fellow townsmen based on their religion, identity or lifestyles. You will embrace all citizens,” he said.

“You should take affirmative action in impoverished neighborhoods and prioritize them when providing services,” the opposition leader added.

The CHP municipalities will periodically give account for every penny they spend, Kılıçdaroğlu stressed, emphasizing on the importance of what he called “rightful due.”

“This also means fighting against squandering. Do not forget, ‘rightful due’ is one of the most fundamental principles of populism,” he said.