” It’s only a beginning ! »: Istanbul is all celebrations on Sunday evening in front of the headquarters of the Istanbul municipality, where a crowd is celebrating the re-election of its mayor, media opponent Ekrem Imamoglu.
Faced with a sea of red flags from Turkey, in front of tens of thousands of exultant supporters, the city councilor who has just inflicted a new defeat on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paces the stage in his white shirt, his combat uniform.
“We won the election!” », he had launched earlier without waiting for the official proclamation of the results of the municipal elections, which had hinted since the beginning of the evening of the debacle of the AKP party in power.
In the crowd, young people lit their cell phone lights and smoke bombs.
The victory is double for Imamoglu who, at 52 years old, not only retains the town hall won hard in 2019, but also inflicts a severe snub on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He had put all his energy and stature at the service of the candidate of his Islamo-conservative party, the engineer and former Minister of the Environment Murat Kurum who, at 47, was facing the polls for the first time.
“The Turks have opened their eyes”
Already in the city, the steep streets of the megalopolis, located on both sides of the Bosphorus, resonate with a concert of horns and cries of joy.
“Turkey is secular and will remain so! », intones the crowd, swaying. “Erdogan, resign!” » she immediately continues, called to order by the winner who asks not to boo the head of state.
“This is just the beginning,” says Ege Ersoz, 19, running into the square opposite the town hall.
“This is the first time that the AKP has lost so much. The Turks opened their eyes and voted for candidates who think first of the economy, education and the future of youth,” she rejoices.
“The victory comes a little late, but we have dealt a decisive blow to the AKP here and I hope that we will see it lose power completely,” adds the young woman.
For Arzu Uluocak, 47, it was “the anger of the population at the deterioration of economic conditions” which cost the government’s defeat.
“Every day, prices skyrocket, people find themselves in a desperate situation,” she notes.
Esra Palasoglu, for her part, is delighted to see that “people have woken up: this is what we call democracy”.
“Veiled, unveiled, right, left, they all woke up and they taught Erdogan a lesson,” she concludes.