A Turkish Governor Was Ousted. Were Bicycling Tights to Blame?

It sounded like a routine transfer of power in northeast Turkey, of regional interest at best.

“In accordance with Articles 2, 3 and 4 of Presidential Decree No. 3, Mehmet Fatih Cicekli, the governor of Ardahan, has been removed from office.”

But the brief announcement from the Turkish president’s office last week did not specify any reason for the dismissal of Mr. Cicekli, who had been appointed in January as the governor of Ardahan, a province of about 90,000 people in northeast Turkey.

And at least some people quickly started speculating that he had been fired because of bicycle pants.

Mr. Cicekli is a bicycle enthusiast who has organized cycling events and who often posts photos and videos of himself cycling. In those images, he is generally wearing the kind of skin-tight leggings and jerseys commonly worn by serious cyclists.

That prompted criticism from political opponents. As reported in local news media, one lawmaker from the opposition Republican People’s Party, Inan Akgun Alp, considered the matter important enough to bring up in parliament.

He called Mr. Cicekli a “TikTok governor,” according to the Hurriyet Daily News, adding: “He walks around in cycling tights with four bodyguards, rides his bicycle all day among citizens. This is not how a governor should act.”

Mr. Alp asked the Interior Ministry to dismiss Mr. Cicekli.

So when Mr. Cicekli was fired last week and replaced by Omer Hilmi Yamli, the district governor of Şehitkamil, in the southern province of Gaziantep, many on social media and in Turkish media seized on the athletic wear controversy, citing it as the reason for his ouster.

Mr. Cicekli leaped right in, telling BirGün, an Istanbul newspaper: “I’m a sailor, a rower, and a cyclist. I do my best to do it at a professional level. The clothing I’m wearing is sportswear that I use for morning workouts. Apart from that, we don’t wear this attire during our normal working hours, on weekdays.”

Thousands of Mr. Cicekli’s supporters signed a petition for his reinstatement. As he left the governor’s office for the last time after a small ceremony, his car was accompanied by several cyclists, according to video published by the Turkish outlet Cumhuriyet.

Neither Mr. Cicekli nor President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan responded to emails requesting comment on Friday.

But there is likely more to the story than complaints about athletic wear, said Asli Peker, acting director of the Program in International Relations at New York University and an expert on the region. She noted that there had been “longstanding political tensions and complaints” about Mr. Cicekli.

For example, the Turkish newspaper Sözcü reported this week that an investigation into a 2022 construction deal in Karaman province, where Mr. Cicekli was the governor at the time, might have been a more significant factor.

“My sense is that the bicycle shorts were the trigger for some public controversy, but not necessarily the underlying reason for the governor’s dismissal,” Dr. Peker said.

“It is difficult to know the underlying reason for sure, but I would be surprised if the shorts were the only cause,” she said.

Whatever the reasons, Mr. Cicekli is continuing to defend his athletic pursuits. He told BirGün: “I rowed in Istanbul, sailed in the Marmara and Aegean Seas, and cycled in Karaburun, Ankara. What will I do next? I will do even more sports.”