Istanbul mayor launches campaign for CHP primaries
ANKARA
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has announced the start of his campaign for the presidential primaries of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) through a video message in which he vowed to bring about change in Türkiye.
“I set out with the claim of first being the candidate and then president. Türkiye will rise again, and we will regain our unity and brotherhood with common sense and consensus,” İmamoğlu said on late March 6.
On March 23, İmamoğlu will run in the CHP primaries for selecting the party’s presidential candidate as the sole contender.
“I am not a candidate for a position but for a tough struggle. My sole purpose, my sole dream is to reconstruct the state structure, economy, democracy, rule of law, education and health which have been destroyed by this government,” he stated.
Change in Türkiye is possible through a principled and virtuous solidarity and the primaries to be held by the CHP will be the first step in prevailing collective mind and consensus, the mayor stressed.
İmamoğlu will begin his rallies from the Aegean coastal city of İzmir and the central Anatolian town of Kayseri on March 8 and will be in Adana and Antalya on March 9.
Türkiye will go to presidential and general polls in May 2028, but many in Ankara believe they will be brought forward to mid-2027. The CHP is pressing on the government to go to polls as soon as possible on the claims that it lost its capacity to run Türkiye and resolve economic problems.
