Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Thursday that Turgut Altınok will represent the Justice and Development Party in the upcoming local elections on March 31st, in an effort to reclaim the capital after it was seized by the opposition in the 2019 elections.
Turgut Altınok is one of the prominent political figures in Turkey, where he began his professional life as a lawyer before entering the political arena when he took on the leadership of the Nationalist Movement Party in the Keçiören district. He held significant positions within his party, serving as the deputy secretary-general of the Nationalist Movement following the 1980 military coup.
Altınok’s political career underwent several shifts; he transitioned to the Motherland Party, then moved to the Justice and Development Party. He successfully won four consecutive mayoral terms in Keçiören municipality.
The Justice and Development Party’s candidate (led by Erdogan) will face the current mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavaş, who belongs to the Republican People’s Party, one of the largest opposition parties. Altınok and Yavaş have a shared history, having previously been part of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party before each adopted a different political direction.
Erdogan is determined to reclaim the most important Turkish cities from the Republican People’s Party, which achieved significant victories in Istanbul and Ankara in the 2019 elections.
Earlier this month, Erdogan selected a new candidate for the Istanbul mayoralty, Murad Kurum, who previously served as the Minister of Environment. Kurum will go against the current city mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, from the Republican People’s Party.
Most analysts believe that Erdogan and his party have better chances of winning in Istanbul than in Ankara, based on opinion polls that rank the current capital’s mayor as one of the most popular politicians in Turkey.
İmamoğlu must secure his reelection in Istanbul to maintain his chances in the upcoming presidential elections, which he aims to partake in after Erdogan’s term ends in 2028.
