Turkish vote: Battle to run Istanbul becomes key to country's future - BBC News

Millions of Turks have voted, and President Erdogan hopes to regain control of Turkey's biggest city.

8 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, NECATI SAVAS/EPA-EFEImage caption, Until 2019, President Erdogan's AK Party had been in charge of Istanbul and Ankara for 25 yearsBy Cagil KasapogluBBC World ServiceMillions of Turks have voted in elections to decide who runs their biggest cities - and whether President Recep Tayyip Erdogan can wrest back control from the opposition.

Turkey's economic and social powerhouse, Istanbul, was won by a united opposition five years ago under popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, shattering the president's long run of electoral success.

Now Mr Erdogan, who was born in this megacity of 16 million people, wants it back and the vote is on a knife-edge.

Whatever happens in Istanbul is being seen as a crucial test of whether the opposition can pose a serious threat to Mr Erdogan and his AK Party in the next presidential elections in four years' time.

"Istanbul is his home. Losing Istanbul to the opposition in the 2019 local elections was devastating for him," says Ihsan Aktas of the department of communication at Istanbul Medipol University and chair of the Genar Political Research Centre.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68663417

---