3 days to the elections….

As I witness İmamoğlu being bombarded from all sides, this poem by Ahmet Arif comes to mind;

“Strike, damn you, strike, I do not die easily.

I have embers cooling in the hearth

I have words in my belly.”

An unprecedented event in history! The President and 17 ministers of the government are campaigning for votes for Murat Kurum in a different corner of Istanbul every day. All state institutions have been mobilized for the ruling party's candidate. The other day, Özer Sencar, founder of the MetroPoll research company, made striking statements on Murat Yetkin's YouTube channel while announcing the results of the latest poll.

He explained that Erdoğan's mobilization of all state resources for Kurum is having a counterproductive effect on voters. Stating that the involvement of high-level state officials, such as the Minister of Interior and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the local elections is benefiting İmamoğlu rather than Kurum, Sencar noted that İmamoğlu has increased the gap from 3 points to 10 points in the March survey.

There are 3 days left until the elections. Underlining that Istanbul voters will determine Turkey's fate, let us move to our city of Eskişehir, which is small in population but large in influence. Yılmaz Büyükerşen, who transformed Eskişehir by being elected mayor five consecutive terms, is not in this election. But his name has undoubtedly gone down in history as the person who revolutionized Turkish municipalism. Büyükerşen, the most successful mayor of the century-long Republican era, chose a female candidate as his successor. Even this choice reveals his difference from other politicians.

Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality mayoral candidate Ayşe Ünlüce has been Büyükerşen's colleague since 2018. She is a native of Eskişehir. She is a lawyer by profession. Before taking office at the Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality, she worked as a judge. Since 2018, she has served as the secretary-general, responsible for all financial affairs in the municipality. Ünlüce knows the needs of the city and the people of Eskişehir closely. In the latest polls, she appears to be 4 percent ahead of her closest rival.  

Why is Eskişehir, with a population of 1 million, so important?

Because Eskişehir is one of the cities with the youngest population in Turkey. 3 million 525 thousand young people from all over the country are studying in Eskişehir. The result to be obtained in Eskişehir has as much strategic importance as the election results in our major cities like Ankara, İzmir, Adana, and Antalya. After Büyükerşen, who turned a poor city in the Anatolian steppe into one of the world's most livable cities with its infrastructure, squares, parks, museums, theaters, and social municipal services, the future also concerns the young people who choose to study at university in Eskişehir. In this respect, the responsibility shouldered by Ayşe Ünlüce is as heavy as the burden on the shoulders of the CHP's five metropolitan mayoral candidates.

Will the people of Eskişehir use their votes in favor of the gains in a city where they have lived in peace for 25 years, benefited from social municipal services to the fullest, and have not witnessed rent-seeking municipalism? Or will the Büyükerşen era end, and will the CHP's fortress of Eskişehir fall?

What about Antalya and Hatay? One is the capital of tourism and the focus of a rent-based economy, the other is a city devastated by the earthquake where its people are in the greatest need of help… Did the CHP make the right decision by continuing with the former mayors in Hatay and Antalya? Or was it wrong?

We will see on the night of March 31. Another one of those long election nights awaits us.