Six municipal council members from Türkiye’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in Istanbul’s Ataşehir district joined the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Wednesday, a day after nine district mayors switched to the party.
Oğuz Sarul, Sinan Emrah Yıldırım, Fatih Evliyaoğlu, Abdullah Aslan, Cengiz Kayayurt and Mehmet Alver joined the AK Party during a local party meeting in Ataşehir, according to a statement from the AK Party’s Istanbul branch.
Sarul also serves as a member of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) Council.
The switches changed the balance in the Ataşehir Municipal Council to 19 members for the CHP, 16 for the AK Party and two for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
AK Party Istanbul Chair Abdullah Özdemir welcomed the six members, saying the party was open to people from different political backgrounds who wanted to contribute to local government.
Özdemir said the new members would contribute to a service-oriented period in local politics and that the party would continue working to address problems facing Istanbul residents.
The move in Ataşehir came a day after nine district mayors joined the AK Party during an Expanded Provincial Chairs Meeting in Ankara attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Erdoğan presented party badges to the nine mayors of Çerkezköy in Tekirdağ, Çiğli in Izmir, Kahramanmaraş, Antalya, Elazığ, Erzurum, Marmara Adalar in Balıkesir and Sivas during a ceremony.
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting, Erdoğan welcomed the mayors to the party and wished them success in their work.
