Erdoğan unveils AKP-led alliance's candidates for Eskişehir, İzmir districts
ESKİŞEHİR
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has revealed the slate of mayoral candidates representing his Justice and Development Party (AKP)-led ruling alliance in the districts of Eskişehir and İzmir.
In Eskişehir, the alliance nominated a diverse group of candidates, with eight of the 13 candidates hailing from the AKP, four from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and one from the Great Union Party (BBP).
Among the notable AKP candidates in Eskişehir are Özkan Alp in Odunpazarı and Hamit Yüzügüllü in Tepebaşı. Other nominees include Vahit Kara in Beylikova, Bekir Belceli in Han, Serhat Hamamcı in İnönü, Murat Uçarer in Mahmudiye, Zeynep Güneş in Mihalgazi and Hüseyin İlhan in Sivrihisar.
Meanwhile, the MHP's candidates for Eskişehir include Alparslan Kokulu in Alpu, Kadir Bıyık in Çifteler, Halil Sami Barış in Mihalıççık and Erhan Erden in Seyitgazi. Hidayet Özmen will represent the BBP in the Günyüzü district.
"There are such critical developments in the world and in our region that our country and our cities do not have a single day, let alone five years, to lose," Erdoğan stated at the candidate introduction event. "We know that every moment we lose will have huge costs not only for ourselves but also for the future of our children."
Notably, Nebi Hatipoğlu, a recent defector from the İYİ (Good) Party, has been previously nominated as the candidate for Eskişehir's metropolitan municipality.
"As the AK Party and the People's Alliance, I believe that we will have an election in Eskişehir where we will make history with its metropolitan and districts. I have no doubt that Eskişehir will choose real municipalism on March 31," the president said.
In İzmir, Erdoğan announced 25 AKP candidates and five MHP candidates for various districts. Serkan Acar in Aliağa, Esat Tanık in Çeşme, Sema Akıncı in Dikili, Taner Acar in Foça and Arif Demirkan in Tire will run under the MHP banner.
The AKP's nominees in the western city include Bilal Kırkpınar in Bayraklı, Cevdet Çayır in Bornova, Adnan Öztekin in Buca, İsmail Çiftçioğlu in Karşıyaka and Ceyda Bölünmez Çankırı in Konak, among others.
Other notable nominations for AKP are Erol Eroğlu in Balçova, Murat Gökçekaya in Çiğli, Deniz Doğan in Gaziemir, Gümüş Saime Bucaklıoğlu in Güzelbahçe, Mehmet Sadık Tunç in Karabağlar, Zeynel Bakıcı in Selçuk and Özgür Erman Çağlar in Torbalı.
Hamza Dağ was previously announced as the AKP candidate for the metropolitan municipality of İzmir.
