Tanju Özcan, mayor of an opposition-run municipality in northern Türkiye, is the subject of an investigation, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced on Sunday, over his controversial remarks regarding Syrian refugees.
Özcan, in his second term as mayor of Bolu province from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is notorious for his racist policies targeting both Syrian refugees and migrants. He already underwent an investigation in 2021 for his decision to charge foreign nationals astronomical water bills “so that they will be forced to leave.” His sexist remarks bordering sexual harassment toward a municipal assembly member have also drawn ire.
In a recent interview with a YouTube journalist, the lawyer-turned-mayor defended his policies against Syrians in the province while acknowledging that these policies were against the law. “They received enough aid from the state. I did not aid them through the municipality’s budget. Overnight, I removed all (Arabic) signs from the businesses and canceled their business licenses,” Özcan boasted to journalist Fatih Altaylı.
“These were against the law. If they had filed a lawsuit, they would probably win. But bear in mind, you are strongest if you are newly elected into office. It was a shock wave and they could not comprehend it. When I saw the number of people leaving Bolu was not enough, I raised the fees for water bills, for wedding licenses,” Özcan said in the interview.
Özcan’s CHP, which boasts a social democratic ideology, was a major opponent of Türkiye’s hosting of millions of refugees from neighboring Syria amid a raging civil war that displaced many. At one point, it campaigned for the forced return of refugees, echoing a similar call by a far-right party on the other side of the political spectrum.