Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu during the May 19 Ataturk Memorial, Youth and Sports Day celebrations at the Maltepe event area in Istanbul, Turkey, May 19, 2023 Give a speech.
Hakan Akgun | Getty Images
Turkey’s opposition scored stunning victories in local elections in several of the country’s major cities on Sunday, dealing a heavy blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party and facing a crisis in more than two decades. The biggest failure.
“Those who do not understand the state’s message will ultimately fail,” said Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. tell thousands of supporters According to Reuters, vote counts showed his center-left Republican People’s Party (CHP) won the large city of Istanbul by more than 1 million votes.
“Tonight, 16 million citizens of Istanbul sent a message to our opponents and to the president,” he explain.
Erdogan’s conservative Justice and Development Party (locally abbreviated as AKP) dominates the country.
In a speech on Sunday night, Erdogan acknowledged that his party had “lost its height” and would work to correct its mistakes.
“We will correct our mistakes, correct our shortcomings,” he said from the balcony of the presidential palace. Erdogan, 70, has ruled Turkey since 2003.
Overwhelming opposition wins in municipal elections in major Turkish cities including Istanbul, Izmir and the capital Ankara could move the country in a new direction. Erdogan himself rose to prominence as mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s and later won the presidency. Analysts now speculate that Imamoglu’s victory in Istanbul could make him the front-runner for Turkey’s 2028 presidential race.
Erdogan himself once said Whoever wins Istanbul wins Türkiye. Imamoglu, 52, is a former businessman who has served as Istanbul mayor since 2019. He tried to run for president in Turkey’s 2023 election, but was banned from running by Erdogan’s government, a move that supporters of the Republican People’s Party said was purely political. Erdogan’s party won resounding victories in these elections, placing the AKP at the top of the list nationally.
About The Author
