Who runs local government in Türkiye?

Türkiye mixes a strong appointed state administration (governors in 81 provinces and district governors) with elected local governments: metropolitan and district municipalities, special provincial administrations, and about 18,000 villages. At the very bottom, every village and urban neighbourhood elects a muhtar (headman). Elected mayors have real budgets, but the central government can and does remove them, especially in the Kurdish-majority south-east, and replace them with appointed trustees.

Republic of Türkiye · Unitary presidential republic · Western Asia

The levels of government below the nation

Level	How it is chosen	What it does
Provinces (81)	Governor (vali) appointed by the President	Chief state official in the province; supervises local governments and security.
Metropolitan municipalities (30) and special provincial administrations (51)	Metropolitan mayor and council elected for five years; in other provinces a directly elected provincial council, with the appointed governor heading the executive	Transport, water, major roads, planning and services across a whole province.
Districts (973) and municipalities (about 1,390)	District governor (kaymakam) appointed; district and town mayors and councils directly elected	Local planning, permits, parks, waste, social services.
Villages (köy, about 18,200) and neighbourhoods (mahalle)	Muhtar and council of elders elected every five years	Villages are separate legal bodies; neighbourhood muhtars certify residence and act as go-betweens with municipalities.

Three questions about local power in Türkiye

Are local leaders elected?

Mayors, municipal and provincial councillors, and muhtars and village elders are directly elected for five years. Governors, district governors and trustees (kayyum) are appointed. Imams are civil servants.

Which laws set up local government?

Local administrations are in the Constitution (Article 127) and the Municipalities, Metropolitan Municipalities and Special Provincial Administration laws; muhtars are formal posts. Tribal and religious-community influence is informal.

Who are local leaders accountable to?

Voters choose mayors and muhtars; the Interior Ministry supervises local governments and can suspend mayors under investigation and appoint trustees in their place; courts and audit bodies review decisions.

Traditional and customary authority

Religious life is run by the state Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), which employs all mosque imams and issues sermons, so there is no independent official clergy. In the south-east, Kurdish tribal networks (aşiret) and their leaders (ağa) still shape voting and dispute settlement in some rural areas, and some families have long supplied village guards (state-armed local militia). Religious brotherhoods and communities (tarikat, cemaat) are influential socially but have no legal status, and Sufi orders have been formally banned since 1925.

Community and neighbourhood power

Muhtars are the closest link between residents and the state; they are elected without party labels. City councils (kent konseyi), set up under the Municipalities Law, bring together NGOs and residents to advise municipalities. Hometown associations (hemşehri dernekleri) support migrants from the same village or region in big cities.

Points to know

Local elections were held on 31 March 2024; opposition parties won many large cities.
The Council of Europe's Congress said close to 150 mayors had been removed since 2016 and replaced by government-appointed trustees, and criticised the March 2025 arrest of Istanbul's elected mayor.
Türkiye has ratified the European Charter of Local Self-Government, with reservations.
Metropolitan status covers a whole province once population passes 750,000, so 'city' boundaries can include farmland and mountains.

Local terms

Muhtar: An elected headman of a village or urban neighbourhood (mahalle) who keeps local records and links residents to the state.
Vali / kaymakam: Appointed governor of a province / of a district.
Kayyum: A trustee appointed by the government to run a municipality after the elected mayor is removed.

Sources

Republic of Türkiye: country profile, OECD–UCLG World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment (SNG-WOFI), checked 14 October 2026
Türkiye's Constitution of 1982 (rev. 2017), Constitute Project, checked 14 October 2026
Law No. 5393 on Municipalities (Belediye Kanunu), Presidency of Türkiye, Legislation Information System (mevzuat.gov.tr), checked 14 October 2026
Dismissals of mayors in Türkiye: statement by the Congress President, Council of Europe, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, checked 14 October 2026