The opposition New Party (YP) leader Özgür Özel angered the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) over his remarks about a by-election in Istanbul’s Üsküdar district, a former stronghold that the AK Party took back from Özel’s former party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP). At a rally against the by-election results in Üsküdar earlier this month, Özel claimed that Istanbul Governor Davut Gül “worked for the AK Party” by rescheduling the by-election and limiting access to the municipal building during the vote.
In a social media post on Sunday, Çelik said Özel “cannot cover up his own political failure and intra-party crises by attacking state organs and judicial proceedings.”
Dündar Ziya Gültekin, a municipal council member from the AK Party, was elected acting mayor of Istanbul’s Üsküdar district in a rerun vote Tuesday following a court decision suspending the previous election. That earlier election stemmed from a vacancy at the top post of the municipality after CHP Mayor Sinem Dedetaş was arrested on charges of municipal corruption. The YP obstructed the first election by violating election regulations, according to the AK Party, while the YP claimed that its candidate faced obstruction in the second vote, citing the detention of council members on corruption charges before the second election.
Çelik condemned Özel’s remarks, in which he said that the governor and other bureaucrats would “be held accountable one day.” “Targeting a governor for your own political calculations contradicts the culture of democracy,” Çelik said.
Governor Gül, meanwhile, issued a statement in response to Özel’s allegations. The appointed governor underlined that his duty went beyond political feuds and that he could not intervene in any political race in his capacity. The governor detailed the election process and said the scheduling of the election was the result of ongoing judicial proceedings, citing an appeal to the court to postpone the election. Gül also denied that the ban on people other than municipal assembly members entering the voting venue was “arbitrary or political,” saying it stemmed from criminal complaints by some assembly members who said they faced threats and pressure from YP’s local branch officials not to vote for the AK Party candidate. “The prosecutor’s office requested the ban so that the election would be held in a safe environment without intervention (by third parties),” he said.
