Dündar Ziya Gültekin, who was elected as acting mayor of the Üsküdar district in Istanbul last month, was killed in a car crash in northern Türkiye on Thursday.
Gültekin was among five people injured when their car collided with another car in Düzce province on the Anatolian Highway. He was traveling to the capital Ankara from Istanbul.
Hasan Şengüloğlu, head of the Düzce branch of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which Gültekin represented in Üsküdar, announced the death hours after the injured were taken to a nearby hospital. Media outlets reported that the accident stemmed from road conditions.
Heavy rainfall caused slippery roads in Türkiye’s north, and two people were killed in Istanbul amid severe floods on Wednesday.
Gültekin, a municipal council member from the AK Party, was elected acting mayor of Üsküdar on Sept. 8, in a rerun vote following a court decision suspending the previous election. Üsküdar Mayor Sinem Dedetaş was arrested on July 31 as part of an investigation into allegations of establishing a criminal organization, bribery and extortion. She was subsequently suspended from office by the Interior Ministry, prompting the special election.
