AKP Rize Provincial Chair Hikmet Ayar resigns following vote losses

AKP Rize Provincial Chair Hikmet Ayar met with journalists at the AKP Provincial Headquarters.

Speaking at the press conference, Ayar expressed that they were not satisfied with the results of the presidential and local elections.

"THE DECLINE IN RİZE WAS AT THE SAME RATE"

In his statement regarding the presidential and local elections, Hikmet Ayar emphasized that there was a decline in the AKP in Rize, just as there was across all of Turkey, stating, "I would like to make a brief assessment regarding the March 31 elections. There is a decline in our mayoral votes and our Provincial General Assembly votes, just as there is across all of Turkey. The decline in Rize was at the same rate as the decline across Turkey."

"THESE ARE NOT RESULTS THAT WILL MAKE US HAPPY"

Ayar continued his words as follows:

"There was also a decline in voter turnout. Compared to 2019, while voter turnout across Turkey fell from 84.61 percent to 78.55 percent, it fell from 83.24 percent to 78.73 percent in Rize. While we had won 14 out of 18 municipalities in 2019, we won 13 municipalities on March 31. While we won two district municipalities this time that we had lost in 2019, we lost three municipalities that we had previously won. We had 14 municipalities. Now we have 13 municipalities. Eight of these 13 municipalities are our old colleagues, and five are new names. While 25 of the 30 Provincial General Assembly memberships were held by us, we now have 24 memberships again. 15 of these 24 Provincial General Assembly members consist of new names. In our Provincial Municipal Council, 25 of the 31 members are still with us. While 11 of these 25 members consist of our old colleagues, 14 consist of our new colleagues. Despite Rize being first in Turkey in every aspect with all these results, these results are certainly not results that will make us happy."

"SAYING LET'S START THIS FROM RİZE..."

Chair Ayar stated that he had requested to be relieved of his duties before the elections but was not granted permission, and that he requested to be relieved of his duties again after the elections ended, saying the following:

"I was brought back to the post of AK Party Rize Provincial Chair on March 1, 2023, to conduct the parliamentary and presidential elections. After the May 14 and May 28, 2023 elections, I was not allowed to leave the Provincial Chairmanship. They said you will hold the congresses. When the congresses were postponed, they said you will also hold the local government elections. Thus, we have come to these days. Although I requested to be relieved of my duties twice verbally and twice in writing, I could not get permission. As I stated while evaluating the election results, although Rize was first in Turkey in both provincial general assembly votes and mayoral votes in the March 31 elections, we do not consider ourselves successful. Therefore, to ease the burden on our President, we requested to be relieved of our Rize Provincial Chairmanship duties, saying let's start this from Rize. I underline again that even if it does not satisfy us, Rize is still first in Turkey in terms of election results. As the provincial chair of Rize, which is first in Turkey, I wanted to start this process by requesting to be relieved of my duties. This decision of mine is a decision taken independently of the election results. Because, as I mentioned above, I had stated this request twice in writing and twice verbally before the election. I hope and wish that our Headquarters will accept this request this time. I am only leaving my Provincial Chairmanship duty. As a soldier, I will always continue to be at the disposal of our Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and my Party."

TIMING DREW ATTENTION

The date of the AK Party's 31st Consultation and Evaluation Camp, which was previously announced to be held on June 7-9, has been moved to May 31-June 2. It is expected that President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will make statements to the organizations at the meeting and that changes will be made in some provinces and districts.