CHP leader, Istanbul mayor rally together ahead of polls

ISTANBUL

The main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) leader, Özgür Özel, and Istanbul mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, have joined forces for their first rally together ahead of the upcoming local elections slated for March 31.

The duo's presence at the "public meeting" in the Sultangazi district on Feb. 22 was widely interpreted as a move to quell speculations of duality within the party's ranks regarding mayoral candidate selections. Ferhat Epözdemir, the CHP's mayoral candidate for the district, also graced the rally.

Addressing a crowd at the rally, Özel took aim at the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) mayoral candidate in the city, Murat Kurum, over his handling of a recent tragedy in Erzincan's İliç district.

The CHP leader criticized Kurum's assertion that there was no correlation between the landslide and the favorable assessment report granted to the gold mine during his tenure as the environment minister.

"You signed for the construction of that [soil] mountain, you are responsible for the disaster. We will not allow Murat Kurum, who is responsible for the disaster in İliç, to be the disaster of Istanbul."

The landslide left nine workers buried under soil, prompting days of search efforts that were ultimately halted due to the risky conditions endangering rescue teams.

However, the impact assessment report issued in 2021 regarding the expansion and capacity augmentation in the heap leach area, where the incident occurred, had purportedly indicated no susceptibility to such possibilities.

For his part, İmamoğlu unveiled plans to double the scholarship funds provided by the municipality to university students, promising to increase the amount from 7,500 Turkish Liras to 15,000 liras.