4/7/24

By Aditi Jha

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost several of the local elections last week, as the Republican People's Party (CHP) celebrated their victories in 14 major cities (including Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir) and 21 municipalities. CHP mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, won by 51 percent against Murat Kurum of the AKP who got only 39 percent of the vote, despite Erdogan campaigning for Kurum in Istanbul along with 17 of his cabinet ministers. Additionally, Reuters reported that pro-government media "gives blanket coverage to Erdogan's daily rallies, with coverage of opposition campaigning limited", sharing a comment that "the playing field is tilted in the favor of the ruling alliance. Imamoglu is basically fighting alone." Despite that, this is Imamoglu's third consecutive victory in one of the most important local elections in Turkey. The next Turkish presidential election is in 2028 and it's likely that Imamoglu will challenge Erdogan. However, he could be banned from holding office at all if an appeals court holds up a frivolous 2019 lawsuit filed against him for "publicly insulting state officials working on boards in relation to their duties" which Human Rights Watch labeled "an unjustified and politically calculated assault." The "public insult" was a response to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu's statement to the media. Soylu had said that "To the fool going and complaining about Turkey to the European Parliament: this nation will make you pay the price" and a journalist asked Imamoglu to respond. He commented, "It is those who cancelled the March 31 elections who are the fools." If the lawsuit against that statement is upheld, in addition to not being able to run for office, Imamoglu will also lose the ability to vote, among other rights. Previously, the CHP, Turkey's center-left party, had only been able to garner about 25-30 percent of the vote and support for the conservative AKP almost entirely covered the country. Now, the CHP is supported in central Turkey, the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) is popular in the southeastern part of Anatolia, and the AKP was described by Foreign Policy magazine as controlling "barely contiguous blots of orange from 15 provinces stretching from the northeast to the central part of the country where it hits a thick wall of CHP red." Erdogan has been the president of Turkey for a decade and his party has remained in strong leadership of the country for even longer. His drop in popularity could be due to economic disapproval and strong public support for Palestinians. Other parties are capitalizing on the latter, with the deputy leader of the Welfare Party telling Reuters, "If we, the Welfare Party, were in power, Israel would not be able to attack Gaza." As for the former, annual inflation is still around 70 percent in Turkey and prices are only getting higher. Part of the dislike for him could also be because of his threats to suspend local government services if Turks didn't vote for the AKP. Another possible reason for the decline in AKP popularity is that Imamoglu is a more appealing option to Turkey's young population. CHP leader, Ozgur Ozel, said after the election victories that "young people who had packed their suitcases in their minds decided to wait for another election with this victory." In a speech in Istanbul, Imamoglu encouraged them, "Turkey's destiny is in your hands. You can change what is going wrong in Turkey with one vote."

That's the news for today! Stay safe!