Seven mayors from four different opposition parties joined President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Wednesday, the latest in a wave of defections that critics say are driven by government intimidation, Turkish Minute reported.
Erdoğan personally welcomed the group at AKP headquarters in Ankara, pinning party badges on them after a parliamentary meeting. The mayors comprise Gökhan Budak of Göle in Ardahan province, who was elected from the Republican People’s Party (CHP); Abdulbaki Kara of Şiran in Gümüşhane from the Democrat Party; Abit Özdemir of Rüstemgedik in Muş from the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA); Eşref Varol of Ilıcalar in Bingöl from the New Welfare Party (YRP); Maşuk Ataş of Sarıpınar in Muş from DEVA; Soner Erkan of Ören in Giresun from the YRP; and Hayrettin Çiçek of Sancak in Bingöl, also from the YRP.
The move follows a series of defections in recent months. In August nine mayors, including Özlem Çerçioğlu, the high-profile CHP mayor of Aydın, also switched sides at an AKP anniversary event. Another two district mayors joined in September. Nearly 60 opposition mayors have defected to the ruling party in the past 18 months.
Opposition leaders say the trend is the result of a coercion campaign that escalated after the CHP made substantial gains in the March 2024 local elections, defeating the AKP in most major cities. Since then at least 11 CHP mayors in İstanbul province have been jailed on corruption or terrorism charges, among them Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, the CHP’s presidential candidate and Erdoğan’s strongest rival. His arrest in March sparked Turkey’s largest street protests in a decade.
“Join the AKP or you’ll go to prison — that’s the message,” CHP leader Özgür Özel said earlier this year. Party officials accuse prosecutors of building cases on coerced testimony and say mayors often defect out of fear of imprisonment.
Analysts say the defections are part of a broader strategy to neutralize the opposition and expand AKP control over municipalities.
