Erdoğan vows to reclaim Istanbul, Ankara in municipal elections

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced that his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is intensifying efforts to secure victories in key opposition-held cities, particularly Istanbul and the capital Ankara, in the upcoming local elections scheduled for next March.

"We are preparing for elections where we have no choice but to win. 'Istanbul again' will be one of the watchwords of the struggle," Erdoğan said while speaking at a meeting with provincial heads at the AKP headquarters on Nov. 30.

The president revealed that mayoral candidates are being chosen through extensive field surveys, highlighting a "productive" meeting with Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the ruling People's Alliance partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

"Our negotiations with the MHP continue in a positive channel on the axis of mutual understanding and respect. Our friends we have assigned are in constant contact with their interlocutors," Erdoğan stated.

Critiquing the Republican People's Party (CHP)-led municipalities, especially in Istanbul, Erdoğan accused the main opposition party of "failing to even continue projects initiated by the AKP."

"Our aim is to bring real municipalism to our cities, especially Istanbul and Ankara, which have been drowning in the vortex of lack of service for five years," he asserted.

Singling out the administration in Istanbul, Erdoğan claimed that the city, "once a city with tranquility under AKP governance,” has evolved into an "exhausting one” under CHP's leadership.

"Istanbul, the apple of the world's eye, under the CHP mentality, is craving for its old days... They have done nothing more than renewing the old billboards," he said.

Erdoğan promised a return to effective governance, stating, "We will confront opposition municipalities that cannot provide infrastructure with the municipalism of the Century of Türkiye."

The municipalities of Istanbul and Ankara, traditionally under AKP rule, were won by CHP candidates Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, respectively, in the 2019 polls, with support from the İYİ (Good) Party.

"We will show our nation that long years in power do not spoil us, on the contrary, they give us experience," Erdoğan said. "We owe it to our citizens to be wherever they are. We will work day and night until the elections."