The mayor of Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city and a bastion of the secular opposition, Cemil Tugay, has officially joined the country's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Reuters and the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
Tugay, elected mayor in 2024 as a candidate of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which left in June due to turmoil in its ranks, continuing its rule as an independent mayor, officially joined the AKP at a ceremony in Ankara on Monday, handing over to Erdogan's party the mayoral post of a city it has never managed to win in an election.
„I have no "There is no doubt that with harmony between the local administration and the central government, we will achieve great things," Tugay said, shortly after Erdogan personally hung his party's badge at a ceremony in Ankara. In his short speech, Tugay also described the AKP as the "voice of the voiceless" and pledged to revive and rebuild Izmir, taking office as the western port city's first mayor from the AKP ranks.
Despite the political shake-up, the Izmir municipal council remains under the control of a majority of municipal councilors from Özgür Özel's opposition "New Party," which split from the HDP in July amid a crisis over the return of its old leadership due to the cancellation of its 38th regular congress in 2023.
In his speech to the "New Party" parliamentary group Yesterday, Özsel accused the AKP of using blackmail and threats of imprisonment to force Tugay to join its ranks. “Those who refuse to bow to this pressure ... and do not betray their friends or their party will remain our brothers for the rest of our lives. Those who sell out and leave are the real traitors,“ Özsel said.
During today's ceremony in Ankara, Erdogan rejected Özsel's accusations, saying: “Those who want to serve their cities in peace see the AKP as the safest haven. This is the reason for the growing support for the party. Any other claim is slander and speculation“.
After the announcement of Tugay's transition to the AKP, the opposition called for protests in Izmir, and police barricades were quickly erected in the city center to prevent protesters from gathering there, the Associated Press notes.