Mayor of Turkish opposition stronghold defects to Erdoğan’s party amid political crackdown

Izmir mayor Cemil Tugay joins ruling AKP after vowing he would never switch sides in boost for Turkish president

The mayor of Izmir, Turkey’s third city and an opposition stronghold, has defected to the ruling AKP in a move hailed by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president.

Cemil Tugay’s decision to join the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development party (AKP) was announced by Erdoğan at a parliamentary group meeting in Ankara, where he welcomed the mayor amid a party-like atmosphere broadcast live on TV.

The scene caused anger and disgust on the streets of Izmir, a secular resort city of 4.5 million people on Turkey’s Aegean coast. Kadir Öztürk, 52, said of Tugay: “If I were his mother, I wouldn’t be able to show my face in public. His wife should divorce him. A person needs a backbone.” Tugay had vowed in January that he would never switch to the AKP and that if he did, his mother would disown him and his wife would leave him.

The centre-left Republican People’s party (CHP) won a resounding victory in the local elections of March 2024, but it has since faced a growing intimidation campaign. Six of its provincial mayors have been arrested, including Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, and 29 of its district mayors, according to figures published on Wednesday by the independent Diken news website.

“This is a continuation of AKP’s strategy to reverse its major defeat in the 2024 local elections through force and repression,” said Berk Esen, a political analyst.

“This is a continuation of AKP’s strategy to reverse its major defeat in the 2024 local elections through force and repression,” added Esen.

Tugay took office as mayor in April 2024 just after CHP’s local election victory, but in June he resigned from the party after its leadership was replaced in a controversial court ruling.

On Tuesday Özel spoke of the campaign of pressure, threats and blackmail faced by Izmir’s elected officials. “Those who do not bow to this pressure ... will remain our brothers until the day they die. But those who sell out and leave are traitors,” he said.