Mayor of Turkish opposition stronghold defects to Erdogan’s party

ISTANBUL — The mayor of Turkey’s third‑largest city defected to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party on Wednesday, delivering a rare change of loyalty that grants the newly dominant bloc the mayoralty of Izmir, a longstanding opposition stronghold.

For more than twenty years Izmir had been led by the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), but Chief Mayor Cemil Tugay voted to abandon CHP and join President Ercan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) during a ceremony at the party’s headquarters in Ankara.

In a concise post‑candidate address, Tugay hailed the AKP as the “voice of the voiceless” and pledged to revitalize İzmir as the western port city’s first AKP‑governed municipality.

Tugay secured a 49 percent plurality in the 2024 election, but resigned from the CHP in June after the party faced a landmark legal proceeding that removed its senior leader.

A Turkish court’s decision in May spurred a rapid exodus of CHP members, many of whom joined the New Party founded by deposed CHP leader Özgür Ozel, which subsequently became the largest opposition faction.

Even today, İzmir’s municipal council remains dominated by the New Party.

In response to the leadership shift, authorities erected temporary barriers around the city’s central square on Wednesday after opposition groups called for public demonstrations against Tugay’s defection.

Since 2024, as the CHP consolidated power across major urban centers—including the capital Ankara and Istanbul—its municipalities have endured waves of criminal investigations that have resulted in the imprisonment of hundreds of CHP deputies.

Among the most high‑profile figures affected is Ekrem Imamoglu, the former metropolitan mayor of Istanbul and Erdogan’s preferred challenger in the next presidential race, who has been incarcerated since March last year amid serious corruption allegations; if convicted, he could receive sentencing exceeding 2,300 years.

Critics contend that these prosecutions are politically engineered to weaken the opposition, yet the government asserts that its judicial system remains independent and free from partisan interference.

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