Istanbul election race hosts crowded field for independents
TÜRKİYE’S most populated city, Istanbul, also has the highest number of candidates vying for the mayoral seat in the March 31 elections. Candidate lists given final approval by the election board show 49 people will compete in the vote, and 22 are independents. Challenging the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which boasts the highest number of supporters, or Türkiye’s oldest and biggest opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is no easy feat, but independents still aspire to make their voices heard.
Some are members of small parties that cannot compete in electoral races due to the low number of supporters who decided to run independently to woo voters from other parties. Some are fiercely independent, like a 79-year-old woman who will run for mayor’s seat for the ninth time.
Independent candidates seek to attract voters disillusioned with the current political landscape and tap social media as their only affordable campaign outlets in competition with the larger campaign budgets of major parties. In their race to be distinguished, their campaign pledges are mostly unusual, like a candidate promising to build roads hanging a few meters atop the current roads across the city to alleviate aggravated traffic jams.
Probably most prominent among independents is Taylan Yıldız, former vice chair of the Good Party (İP), which came third in nationwide municipal elections in 2019. Yıldız, who quit the IP last June, shortly after the opposition alliance’s defeat against the AK Party in general elections, hopes to attract young voters. The 43-year-old engineer, who served as a municipal assembly member of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality between 2019 and 2023, is known for his social media videos popular among the young electorate. He is credited with introducing free Wi-Fi in Istanbul metro lines after a campaign he spearheaded and his advocacy for lower taxes for internet, cellphones and personal computers. Yıldız offers a more democratic administration for Istanbulites with an app entitled “Choose your tomorrow” that has an option of online voting on critical issues for the city.
Merve Karataş, a Liberal Democrat Party member, runs on an independent ticket. A self-styled “libertarian,” Karataş pledges to resolve the problem of what she calls the “yellow monopoly” of taxis plaguing the city. Her more radical election pledge seeks to court fringe groups calling for “mass murder” of stray dogs amid incidents of stray dog “attacks.” Karataş promises to exterminate homeless animals if the municipality cannot rehabilitate or offer all dogs for adoption.
Youtuber Güven Akıcı pledges a 50% discount on water bills and transportation fares if he wins the election, along with monthly payments to pensioners and impoverished households. Akıcı’s most unusual pledge is the construction of “over-roads” on existing roads to address the traffic woes.
Ishak Akbay, an ethnic Circassian, counts on the votes of the community. The singer and TV personality is associated with the Pluralist Democracy Party but runs independently.
Vedat Öztürk, a contractor, campaigns under the slogan of “That’s It.” His most striking promise is reducing the price of bread to TL 4. He also promises a new “overhead rail” and the replacement of metro buses with new metro lines.
Fatma Ragibe Kanıkuru Loğoğlu, 79, has the longest name and is also the oldest candidate. She is known as “Fatma of National Forces,” a post-World War I militia that contributed to Türkiye’s War of Independence, as she always wears a hat donned by National Forces members. The elderly candidate’s campaign is based on opposition to corruption.
Sena Elest Akıncı, 23, is the youngest candidate and pledges 60 “megaprojects” for voters. She runs her campaign solely on social media and says she avoids “showing off through billboards and posters.”