Turkish opposition declares victory in main cities
By Paul Kirby & Cagil Kasapoglu
Turkey’s main opposition party has declared victory in high-stakes elections in the main cities of Istanbul and Ankara.
Ekrem Imamoglu, who first became opposition mayor in Istanbul in 2019, said “the picture pleases us greatly”.
A year after Recep Tayyip Erdogan secured a third term as president, he had made it his goal to win back the city where he grew up and became mayor.
But the night belonged to the main opposition as it closed in on victory.
Significantly, the secular CHP was also on course to win in many of Turkey’s other big cities, including Izmir and Bursa, Adana and the resort of Antalya.
The outcome was a significant blow for the man who has led Turkey for the past 21 years. This was the first time since he came to power that his AK Party was defeated across the country at the ballot box.
President Erdogan, 70, acknowledged the election had not gone as they had hoped, but he told supporters in Ankara it would mark “not an end for us but rather a turning point”.
He had led his party’s election campaign in Istanbul, vowing a new era in Turkey’s biggest city.
