Opposition Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said in an interview on Monday that local elections in March will deliver a message to President Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s government about the Turkish people\u2019s desire for \u201cdemocracy, justice and the rule of law\u201d.
\nImamoglu, 52, acknowledged his re-election bid will be more difficult than his initial victory in 2019 because opposition parties are no longer in alliance against candidates from Erdogan\u2019s ruling AK Party (AKP).
\nBut Imamoglu \u2013 who governs Turkey\u2019s biggest city and is the opposition\u2019s highest-profile leader nationwide \u2013 told Reuters he is confident of defeating a newly-named AKP challenger.
\n\u201cWe want to see and experience a process where this city can send its messages to Turkey in terms of democracy, justice and rule of law,\u201d said Imamoglu, of the main opposition Republican People\u2019s Party (CHP).
\n\u201cIf this happens of course there will be several messages sent to the government. Let them worry about that,\u201d he said.
\nImamoglu\u2019s election five years ago ended 25 years of rule in Istanbul by the AKP and its Islamist predecessors.
\nLast May, Erdogan won re-election as Turkey\u2019s president while his AKP and its allies took a majority in parliamentary elections, illustrating the challenge faced by the opposition in the nationwide municipal elections on March 31.
\nAs part of the fallout, the CHP and other opposition parties, including nationalists IYI and pro-Kurdish DEM, have not agreed to field shared candidates in big cities, many of which they won together in 2019.
\n\u201cThe fact is that it will be tougher than the last election,\u201d Imamoglu said at his offices overlooking the Bosphorus Strait intersecting Istanbul. \u201cBack then, the alliances were in a clearer position.\u201d
\n(Reuters)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Opposition Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu stated in an interview that the upcoming local elections in March will send a message to President Tayyip Erdogan’s government about the Turkish people’s desire for democracy, justice, and the rule of law. Imamoglu acknowledged that his re-election bid will be more difficult this time because opposition parties are no longer in alliance against candidates from Erdogan’s ruling AK Party. However, he expressed confidence in defeating a newly-named AKP challenger. Imamoglu’s election five years ago ended the AKP’s 25-year rule in Istanbul. The opposition faces a challenge in the upcoming municipal elections as the CHP and other opposition parties have not agreed to field shared candidates in big cities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3,153,420,415,148,185,114,177,18],"class_list":["post-1489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-cyprus","tag-elections","tag-erdogan","tag-government","tag-local","tag-main","tag-top-news","tag-turkey","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n