Former CHP Ankara candidate hints at candidacy amid CHP leaders comments

ANKARA

Mansur Yavaş, the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) previous candidate for the Ankara mayoralty, has said he is “always ready for duty” amid rumors that his name will be put forward as the CHP’s candidate in the 2019 local elections.

“It is too early to speak about that,” Yavaş told daily Hürriyet’s Deniz Gürel on Oct. 13.

“As a citizen, we are ready for any kind of duty for our country and for Ankara. The biggest need for our country and Ankara now is reconciliation,” he added.

His comments came after CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu mentioned Yavaş in response to reporters’ questions on Oct. 12.

“Yavaş is an important figure in politics. I speak to him time to time. He is a beloved name in our circle too,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

Yavaş, a former member of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), was nominated as the CHP’s Ankara candidate for the March 20, 2014 local elections. He ultimately lost narrowly to ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) candidate Melih Gökçek in a controversial voting process. The CHP appealed to Ankara’s district election boards over voting irregularities but the board dismissed all applications.

“The 2014 local election results did not satisfy anyone in Ankara or Turkey. The public will for change could not be reflected on the ballot. I think the rent-seeking-and-concrete municipality understanding, which even the AKP itself cannot tolerate now, should be ended within the framework of the constitution and laws,” Yavaş said.

“There is an obligation that Ankara, which has been sacrificed to rent-seeking and concrete construction, should instead be administered with an outlook that transcends political parties and applies a common rationality,” he added.

He also appeared to refer to rumors of Gökçek’s impending resignation as mayor, as is thought to have been demanded by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“Things have not yet fallen into their place in politics. But in the coming days Ankara should be approached with the broadest political collaboration and the decision should be made in accordance with it,” Yavaş added.