EGN NEWS DESK
The contest to run metropolis corridor in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest metropolis and financial dynamo, is in some ways between one man who’s on the poll and one other who will not be.
The first is the incumbent, Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a rising star within the political opposition who gained in a shock victory in 2019 and is extensively seen as a possible contender for the presidency.
The second is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who served as Istanbul’s mayor many years in the past and has wished to return his hometown to the management of his governing Justice and Development Party since Mr. Imamoglu’s win.
The end result shall be determined by municipal elections on Sunday that may in some ways form Turkey’s political future.
A win for Mr. Erdogan’s party would permit it to reclaim the political and monetary clout of operating Turkey’s largest metropolis, additional empowering a frontrunner whom critics accuse of main the nation towards autocracy. A win for the incumbent mayor, nonetheless, may reinvigorate the anti-Erdogan opposition and propel Mr. Imamoglu towards the following presidential election, anticipated in 2028, when he may face off in opposition to Mr. Erdogan.
“This election will decide the character of the political race in Turkey for the years to return,” stated Sinan Ulgen, the director of Edam, an Istanbul-based analysis group.
The vote comes amid a protracted cost-of-living disaster, throughout which the worth of Turkey’s foreign money has sunk and many individuals have come to really feel poorer. It additionally follows presidential and parliamentary elections final May that granted Mr. Erdogan one other time period, dashing the hopes of a coalition of opposition events that had joined forces to attempt to unseat him.
In that election, Mr. Erdogan secured victory regardless of widespread voter anger at inflation that had soared to greater than 80 p.c and criticism that his authorities had did not swiftly reply to highly effective earthquakes that killed greater than 53,000 folks in southern Turkey in February 2023.
The opposition’s loss battered its morale and its coalition fell aside.
Many opposition voters now see Mr. Imamoglu as uniquely able to profitable in opposition to Mr. Erdogan’s party, a lot in order that they predict he may very well be Turkey’s subsequent president.
“If Imamoglu wins Istanbul once more, folks will assume that the prospect to beat Erdogan will not be all gone,” stated Seda Demiralp, a professor of political science at Isik University in Istanbul.
On Sunday, voters will elect mayors and different municipal officers throughout Turkey, however a lot of the main target is on Istanbul, given its measurement and political and financial significance.
Home to some 16 million folks and straddling the Bosporus between Europe and Asia, Istanbul generates a lot of Turkey’s financial output. The metropolitan municipality has about 90,000 workers, many working for municipal corporations whose administrators the mayor nominates. All of that provides whoever sits in metropolis corridor important alternatives to reward supporters with municipal jobs and contracts.
The race can also be private. Mr. Erdogan, 70, grew up in Istanbul, the place his father labored as a ferryboat captain. His personal political profession leaped ahead when he gained an upset victory to turn out to be the town’s mayor from 1994 to 1998. Many residents hailed him for sensible governance that targeted on quality-of-life points within the historic metropolis: cleansing up polluted streets and waterways and increasing operating water and sewer networks.
While he later ascended to function prime minister and president, jobs technically primarily based in Ankara, the capital, he typically speaks of his love for Istanbul, whose wealthy historical past, cosmopolitan elite and booming vacationer sector have lengthy made it the jewel of Turkey.
Mr. Erdogan’s party maintained management of the town for a lot of the 25 years after he was elected there.
That is why it was such a blow to Mr. Erdogan’s party when Mr. Imamoglu, 52, defeated its candidate in 2019. Mr. Erdogan’s party alleged electoral irregularities, and Turkey’s election board ordered a rerun.
Mr. Imamoglu gained that, too, by an excellent larger margin.
To attempt to take the town again, Mr. Erdogan has thrown his weight behind Murat Kurum, a former city and surroundings minister in Mr. Erdogan’s authorities and a present lawmaker in his party.
Mr. Kurum, 47, has marketed himself as a hands-on technocrat who will develop companies and rework Istanbul’s neighborhoods to guard residents from potential earthquakes, a significant concern in a metropolis that seismologists warn may very well be hit by a giant one quickly, probably damaging a whole bunch of hundreds of constructions.
“We think about an Istanbul the place none of our households would worry earthquakes anymore,” he stated at a big marketing campaign rally final Sunday on the runway of an previous airport. “All of our homes shall be protected.”
He accused Mr. Imamoglu of operating the town poorly.
“Today, Istanbul is stressed and sad within the arms of an insufficient administration,” he stated.
He referred to Istanbul as “the town that gave us as a present our chief,” that means Mr. Erdogan, and promised to comply with his needs.
“Our chief entrusted you to us,” he stated.
Mr. Erdogan then took the stage, delivering an extended speech by which he accused Mr. Imamoglu of utilizing the town to hunt larger workplace.
“Istanbul is at a crossroads,” he stated. “On one hand, there are those that solely say ‘me.’ On the opposite, there are those that say ‘solely Istanbul.’”
Plenty of individuals who had come for the rally spoke at size of their love for Mr. Erdogan and the way he has run the nation, and with out mentioning Mr. Kurum.
“We are right here to help Erdogan,” stated Erkan Kirici, 49, a laborer in a clothes manufacturing unit. “He develops our nation, and we would like the nation to maneuver ahead.”
At a separate, smaller rally days later, Mr. Imamoglu addressed folks on the street from atop his marketing campaign bus, taking about wastewater disposal, parking and free transit playing cards and milk for low-income households.
He characterised himself as an underdog, noting that not solely Mr. Erdogan but additionally a number of ministers in his authorities had appeared in Istanbul to help Mr. Kurum.
“They allegedly wish to take Istanbul again. From whom? From the nation itself!” he stated. “The subways carried out by you or the subways carried out by me — they’re all property of the nation. They assume the positions, the posts they’ve been elected to are their very own property.”
In the gang, Suna Hisman, 40, and her sister cheered on the mayor’s quips and waved Turkish flags.
“We love him,” she stated. “We help him and God keen he shall be our president.”
Turkey’s subsequent nationwide election is predicted on the finish of Mr. Erdogan’s mandate in 2028, however some Turks anticipate that he’ll search to stay in energy longer. He is at the moment within the second of the 2 presidential phrases allowed by the Constitution. But a parliamentary name for early elections may permit him to run for an additional time period, or he may search to alter the Constitution.
Mr. Erdogan’s critics accuse him of eroding Turkey’s democracy through the use of the federal government to silence dissidents, co-opt the judiciary and cow the information media. Some analysts worry {that a} win for his party in Istanbul may additional embolden Mr. Erdogan, accelerating such efforts.
“If the opposition loses now, there shall be an extended interval with no elections and with a consolidated central authorities, which I feel is already extremely authoritarian,” stated Ms. Demiralp, the political science professor.
Mr. Erdogan and his supporters reject the concept he’s an aspiring autocrat, pointing to his and his party’s lengthy file of success on the polls.
Gulsin Harman contributed reporting.
