AKP takes over Üsküdar municipality after mayor’s arrest

ISTANBUL

Istanbul’s Üsküdar district municipal council on Sept. 8 elected the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidate as the new interim mayor, wresting control of the municipality from the opposition.

The election of a deputy mayor came after Üsküdar Mayor Sinem Dedetaş was arrested on Aug. 31 over alleged corruption. Over the past year, following operations targeting opposition-run municipalities, municipal council members have been electing interim mayors to replace mayors who have been arrested until the final decision by the courts.

In the Sept. 8 vote, AKP candidate Dündar Ziya Gültekin, who was also backed by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), won in the fourth round, securing 23 votes against 19 for the candidate of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

The outcome transferred control of one of Istanbul’s key district municipalities from the CHP to the AKP.

In the initial vote held on Aug. 5, CHP candidate Sibel Tan Çetinkaya was elected deputy mayor. However, following an objection from the AKP, the election was annulled and ordered to be held again.

The re-run was initially scheduled for Sept. 5 but was postponed to Sept. 8 after the council failed to reach the required absolute majority to hold the election.

AKP Üsküdar District Chairman Taha Sarıcaoğlu said in a post on X on the evening of Sept. 3 that CHP council members Ahmet Başbaydar, Ayhan Aydın, Hüseyin Kazan and Tahsin Usta joined the AKP’s municipal council group.

Some of the members of the council were also detained as part of the investigation.

The emerging main opposition New Party leader Özgür Özel, speaking in Tekirdağ on Sept. 4, argued that the detention of municipal council members eligible to vote was intended to influence the outcome of the election.

In a similar outcome, the administration of the northwestern province of Bursa, one of Türkiye’s largest cities, shifted to AKP amid the arrest of the opposition mayor and a subsequent vote in the municipal council in April.