AKP-run municipality closes iftar tent after election, sparking backlash

In the local elections held in Istanbul's Sancaktepe district, CHP candidate Alper Yeğin won the mayoral race with 50 percent of the vote.

According to a report by Gülseven Özkan from Medyascope, the Ramadan tent set up by the municipality in the district, which was under the administration of former AKP mayor Şeyma Döğücü, was not opened on the first day following the election.

A citizen who expressed their reaction stated the following:

“I guess Ms. Şeyma only opened the tent for the election. The votes are in, the tent is gone. She closed up shop and left. Everyone who comes here leaves disappointed; it was only until the election.”

It was noted that significant changes occurred on Istanbul's political map following the March 31 local elections, with the CHP winning the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and the distribution of district municipalities shifting. Although Sancaktepe had been under AKP administration since 2008, it passed to the CHP in this election.

Şeyma Döğücü, who received 49.88 percent of the vote as the AKP candidate in the 2019 elections, ran again in the 2024 elections and made headlines with her promise of gold to women; however, according to the election results, CHP candidate Alper Yeğin became the new mayor with 50.59 percent of the vote.

Another voter, who was sitting in the garden where the tent is located with their family, noted the following:

“The change of mayor as a result of the election is not something personal against Ms. Şeyma. The handover process has not even taken place yet. I think they could have provided iftar until the end of Ramadan. I believe there are many people in the Samandıra region who need this. I have been here for two or three hours. People come and go back. They call on the phone and say, ‘They didn’t open it.’ I see this as a shortcoming of the current mayor.”

The iftar tent, established by the municipality under the administration of the defeated Döğücü, did not open after the election, leading to public backlash. An official stated that the tent was not closed permanently, saying, "This decision was made for the sake of the work and for the staff to rest on the day of the election and the following day. The tent was also closed on election day. This is not an event indexed to whether this party or that party won. It will reopen tomorrow (Tuesday, April 2) and will serve until the end of Ramadan."