Mayor of Turkish opposition stronghold defects to Erdogan’s party
Tugay’s switch gives Erdogan a symbolic win in a city the AK Party has never won at the ballot box, while the council stays opposition-led.
- On Wednesday, Mayor Cemil Tugay joined President Tayyip Erdogan's AKP at a ceremony in Ankara, handing the ruling party a symbolic prize in Turkey's third-largest city, a historic bastion of secular opposition.
- Tugay won the March 2024 election with 49% of the vote as a Republican People candidate, but quit the party in June following a court ruling and served as an independent for three months.
- New Party leader Özgür Özel alleged on Tuesday that Tugay faced "threats, blackmail and pressure," while Tugay reversed his earlier vow that joining the AKP was "not even a one-in-a-million chance."
- Despite the defection, the AKP does not control Izmir's city council; the New Party remains the largest group with 91 members, while independents hold 11 seats.
- This switch makes Tugay the first right-wing mayor of Turkey's third-largest city in 27 years, ending a streak where the ruling party failed to win Izmir in three consecutive elections.
91 Articles
91 Articles
Mayor Cemil Tugay took office in 2024 on behalf of the largest opposition party, the CHP, but switched to the AKP on Wednesday. The CHP won municipal elections in a number of major cities in March 2024. Since then, the party has been increasingly suppressed.
For years, the opposition party CHP ruled in the Turkish Izmir. But corruption accusations and arrests put her on hold. Mayor Tugay only quit the party - and now changes to Erdoğan's AKP.
The mayor of Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city and opposition stronghold, switched to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Wednesday. It became an important symbolic victory for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
THE MAYOR of Turkey's third largest city joined the ruling party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today, making her the first mayor to take up the position of mayor in that stronghold of the opposition.
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