Üsküdar Deputy Mayor Amine Cansu Çelik resigns from CHP

Üsküdar Deputy Mayor Amine Cansu Çelik has announced that she has resigned from her membership in the Republican People's Party (CHP). Çelik shared her decision in a written statement posted on her social media account.

Çelik, who was detained prior to the re-election for the deputy mayor position in the municipal council, was arrested on September 5 and later released on the condition of house arrest.

In her statement, Çelik noted that she accepted the offer from the CHP in the 2024 local elections because she saw it as an "opportunity to serve Üsküdar and the people of Üsküdar," but stated that she had experienced serious discomfort regarding the management approach within the municipality over time.

Çelik argued that during her tenure, she witnessed appointments that raised doubts about merit and processes that she believed were shaped outside of institutional authority and responsibilities. She alleged that her working area as a deputy mayor was restricted from time to time and that she experienced "systematic exclusion."

“For these reasons, as a requirement of my political and conscientious responsibility, I hereby inform the public that I have resigned from my membership in the Republican People's Party.”

Stating that the legal process had further aggravated the situation for her, Çelik claimed that pressure was exerted on her and her husband to resign from her municipal council membership while she was in custody. She also expressed that she was deprived of her freedom during this process and was separated from her four-year-old child.

WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE PROCESS?

Following the arrest of Üsküdar Mayor Sinem Dedetaş, the election for a deputy mayor had come to the agenda in the municipality. Amine Cansu Çelik, who was detained and subsequently arrested during the election process, was released under house arrest after the deputy mayoral election.

The deputy mayoral election in Üsküdar was won by the AKP candidate Dündar Ziya Gültekin. Çelik was elected as a member of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Üsküdar Municipality Councils from the AKP in 2019 and served on the AKP Üsküdar District Board of Directors during the same period. Çelik, who resigned from the AKP in 2022, was placed first on the CHP's list of candidates for the Üsküdar Municipality Council in the 2024 local elections.