Turkey: İzmir’s mayor defects to ruling AKP
Cemil Tugay, the mayor of İzmir, on Tuesday switched alliegences from the opposition CHP to the ruling party AKP. President Erdoğan welcomed him personally at a parliamentary group meeting and presented him with a party pin. Tugay's switch is the latest in a series of defections across Turkey, and has sparked protests in İzmir, a CHP stronghold. Reactions in the Turkish press vary.
Voters left out of the equation
Karar sees it as unlikely that İzmir's voters will reward the AKP at the ballot box for their mayor's defection:
“The city administration, which the people of İzmir had entrusted to the opposition, has passed into the hands of the ruling party without an election. ... The problem is that this is not the first time such an attempt has been made to pander to the people. It began ten years ago, when trustees were put in charge of [pro-Kurdish] HDP-run municipalities. ... If the people had not viewed these actions as an anti-democratic encroachment on their will, these moves would not have backfired every time. Won't people start to think that Cemil Tugay has also been pushed into this series of defections of mayors and municipal officials? As the result of pressure to prevent him from working and carrying out his duties, and with ultimatums to either be exonerated by joining the AKP or arrested for corruption?”
Overcoming political rifts
The pro-government newspaper Sabah celebrates the mayor's switch:
“This 'most recent CHP defection' carries a political significance distinct from those before it. ... It is a switch that puts an end to - and even challenges - the political polarisation which has shaped a large part of the last century. ... In recent years, İzmir had become a symbol because of its lifestyle [Western and modern]. The peer pressure that has held politics and society hostage was manifested here in its strongest form. For a politician to overcome it, to stand up to it, is a matter of courage in the truest sense of the word. Some may make choose the easy explanation and say this switch was the result of political pressure, but it is not that straightforward.”