site.btaIn Istanbul, Erdogan Spearheads His Party's Local Elections Campaign

Thousands of local residents flocked to a major ally, held in Istanbul's Millet Bahcesi Park on Sunday by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in its campaign for Turkiye's March 31 local elections. A large number of women and young people were prominently present at the rally.

Addressing the event in a nearly an hour long speech, the country's President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a vote en masse in the local elections so as to achieve a victory for the party's candidates led by Istanbul mayoral candidate Murat Kurum.

Erdogan criticized Istanbul's incumbent administration in the person of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is seeking re-election as the candidate of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). The President argued that during his five years as mayor, Imamoglu "had turned the city into a dump and a hell for traffic" and that he had delayed Istanbul's development by 30 years.

"On April 1, we must deliver Istanbul to its genuine administrators. We must free this city from the usurpers. We must hand it over to the persons who will run it with a real vision of serving the public," Erdogan said, stressing that "Murat Kurum will usher in a new period in the life and development of the megalopolis in line with the vision of Turkiye's new century."

"We have rejected all forms of discrimination. We have kept our municipalities' and state institutions' doors wide open to anyone connected to Turkiye through citizenship. We have not allowed political competition to be turned into political hostility and be employed as a source of discord among our people," the President pointed out. "Today we maintain the same stance we displayed when we took over the administration in Istanbul in 1994, and we remain dedicated to the same principles and motivations as when we assumed the responsibility to govern the country in 2002. We passionately serve the 85 million with an understanding that embraces Turkiye with all its colours, differences and beauties. We will continue our path in the same manner in the future as well," Erdogan vowed.

In his speech at the rally, mayoral candidate Kurum focused on urban transformation and traffic, which he singled out as the principal problems of the 16 million strong city that must be addressed without delay.

The candidate promised the construction of 650,000 new residential units, a doubling of the metro lines, building two tunnels linking the European and Asian sections of the megalopolis, and preferential treatment for women's and young people's business start-ups. 

On March 31, some 12 million registered voters will be able to choose from among 49 mayoral candidates in Istanbul: 22 nominated by parties and 27 independents, according to a list endorsed by the Supreme Election Council (YSK). The really heated race, however, will be between Kurum and Imamoglu. The AKP's top priority, as set in its campaign manifesto, is to win back Istanbul from the CHP after losing it in 2019 for the first time since coming to power. The issue is particularly sensitive for Erdogan, who was himself mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s.