Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Cemil Tugay’s joining the AKP has received extensive coverage in the international press.
Organizations such as Reuters, the Associated Press (AP), The Guardian, and Euronews evaluated the development as the AKP obtaining the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality—which it could not win through elections—via a political transition.
In the reports, Izmir was described as Turkey’s third-largest city and one of the centers where the opposition has been strong for many years. The international press addressed Tugay’s party change in the context of investigations and arrests targeting opposition municipalities.
Reuters, in its report, characterized Izmir as a “stronghold of the secular opposition” and pointed out that Tugay’s switch to the AKP occurred during a period when numerous mayors have been arrested. The agency also emphasized that the AKP has never been able to win the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality through elections to date.
Reuters also wrote that following the losses the AKP suffered in the 2024 local elections, numerous investigations were launched into opposition-run municipalities. The report recalled that in addition to Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, former Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tunç Soyer is also currently imprisoned.
HEADLINES HIGHLIGHTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS
The Guardian reported Tugay’s joining the AKP as a development that took place in an “environment of political pressure.” The newspaper stated that the opposition in Turkey is facing increasing pressure and that cases targeting mayors and elected officials are viewed by observers as politically motivated.
The Associated Press, noting that Izmir has long been seen as an opposition stronghold, pointed out that with Tugay’s switch, the AKP has obtained the metropolitan mayoralty in the city for the first time. The AP wrote that investigations into CHP-run municipalities intensified after the 2024 local elections and that hundreds of CHP members have been arrested during this process.
In its report, the AP also stated that protests demanding Tugay’s resignation were held in Izmir and that police set up barricades in the city center.
“A SYMBOLIC GAIN”
Euronews evaluated the development as a “symbolic gain” for the AKP. The report stated that Tugay had won against AKP candidate Hamza Dağ in the 2024 local elections as the CHP candidate with a margin of approximately 314 thousand votes, and that the 27-year center-left administration in Izmir has ended with this transition.
Euronews also drew attention to the fact that despite the mayoralty passing to the AKP, the party does not hold a majority in the Izmir Metropolitan Municipal Council. The report included statements by Özgür Özel regarding the fact that the AKP has never been able to win Izmir at the ballot box.
Özel’s claims that Tugay faced “threats, blackmail, and pressure” were also among the headlines covered in international reports.
News Source: 12punto
