COMMUNIST Party of Turkey (TKP) mayor of Dersim Mehmet Fatih Macoglu took office today afternoon finally getting his mandate to govern a day after being blocked on spurious security grounds.

He proudly displayed his certificate from the supreme election board (YSK) following a swearing-in ceremony at the Tunceli courthouse and immediately set about work, promising to make all municipal documents public.

ÖNEMLİ...
Belediyemize çiçek-hediye vs. kabul edilmeyecektir..
Aşağıdaki İBAN numarası belediyemiz sokak hayvanları bakım tedavi ve rehabilitasyon merkezine aittir..Bağışlarınızı bu hesaba yapabilirsiniz...
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Tunceli Merkez Şubesi
TR 3000 0100 0298 2583 1128 5047 pic.twitter.com/kcO8ERULg8

— Fatih Mehmet Maçoğlu (@FatihMacoglu) April 5, 2019

Mr Macoglu explained he had started a review of the Dersim finances which were brought to him by the accounting manager upon taking office and would display them in the municipal offices and neighbourhoods.

According to his initial findings, the newly appointed mayor said the province was around 65 million Turkish lira (TL), or £8.9 million, in debt with just 266,000 TL (£37,000) in the safe.

Dersim had been run by a government-appointed trustee since November 2017.

This followed the dismissal of Mehmet Ali Bul of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) as part of a government move against the largely Kurdish region, during which 90 mayors were sacked.

When the government-appointed trustee Olgun Oner took over from Mr Bul, Dersim’s accounts showed a 17 million TL (£2.4m) profit.

This indicates that the massive debt left behind is a toxic legacy of woeful mismanagement.

Mr Macoglu swept to victory with 32.7 per cent of the vote, becoming the first communist mayor of a municipality in Turkey.

He shot to prominence while mayor of Ovacik where he was known for progressive policies including the establishment of communes and making all public transport free.

He said: “We have taken back our municipality with the power of the people,” thanking the public for their support during the election campaign and during the period he was blocked from taking office.

He confirmed the municipality was not accepting flowers or other gifts in honour of his electoral victory, asking people instead to donate to a local centre for the treatment and rehabilitation of street animals.

Mr Erdogan was desperately trying to save face following humiliation in Sunday’s local elections in which the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) failed to win in the key cities of Izmir, Istanbul and the capital Ankara.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Ekrem Imamoglu – who beat former PM Binali Yildirm to win Istanbul by around 25,000 votes – scoffed at AKP claims they were clawing back votes after a recount saying they were “bad losers.”

“Terrorism investigations” have been launched against the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) elected co-mayors for Diyarbakir and MP Berdan Ozturk.