Retaking İstanbul, the “jewel” of Turkey, in Sunday’s local elections, has become President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s obsession since he lost the country’s economic capital to the opposition in 2019.

Erdoğan’s path to becoming Turkish president began in İstanbul, where he was elected mayor in 1994. His allies held the city until Ekrem İmamoğlu of the secular Republican People’s Party (CHP) took control five years ago.

As soon as he won re-election as president last May, Erdoğan launched the campaign to recapture the city of 16 million.

‘The jewel, the treasure’

“Are we ready to take back İstanbul?” he asked an enthusiastic crowd outside his residence.

Two days before the election, revenge for the loss of İstanbul seems to be the most important issue for Erdoğan’s party.

“İstanbul is the jewel, the treasure and the apple of our country’s eye,” he said at a rally in the city a week before the elections.

Erman Bakırcı, a pollster from Konda Research and Consultancy, summarized the importance of the city with the saying “Winter will only come to Turkey when it snows in İstanbul.”

Bakırcı also recalled that Erdoğan once said, “Whoever wins İstanbul, wins Turkey.”

The Turkish president appointed former environment minister Murat Kurum as his candidate for mayor and entrusted him with reclaiming İstanbul and consolidating his power.

According to the latest polls, however, İmamoğlu has a slight lead.

Resentment

İmamoğlu prevailed against an ally of Erdoğan in the 2019 election, which made international headlines due to its controversial annulment.

He won the re-run of the election by an even bigger margin, making him an instant hero of the opposition and a bitter enemy of Erdoğan.

Without ever mentioning his name, Erdoğan, who is omnipresent on Turkey’s television screens, regularly taunts the mayor.

Erdoğan calls him a “part-time mayor” who is obsessed with his presidential ambitions.

Many observers believe that İmamoğlu’s re-election on Sunday could strengthen his position ahead of the next presidential election in 2028, in which he is expected to run.

Berk Esen, an associate professor at İstanbul’s Sabancı University, told AFP that İmamoğlu “can meet thousands of voters on a daily basis” while on the campaign trail, putting himself “in the headlines.”

With a victory in İstanbul, Esen said, Erdoğan “really hopes to end that.”

© Agence France-Presse

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