The mayor of the Metropolitan Municipality of Izmir – the third-largest city in Turkey – Cemil Tugay, who in recent months had continued his political career as an independent after leaving the CHP, has decided to join the AKP led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a move that has come as a real shock to Turkish politics. It will, in fact, be the first time that the AKP has governed Izmir, traditionally a stronghold of the main Turkish opposition party, the CHP (Republican People’s Party).
Tugay arrived at the AKP headquarters in Ankara at around 10.30 am in his own car; on arrival, he answered questions from journalists and stated: “Good things lie ahead for Izmir. I love Izmir very much.” Erdoğan, who entered the headquarters building approximately an hour later, was met at the door by Tugay and several AKP deputy chairmen.
Erdoğan and Tugay sat side by side in the area reserved for protocol. After taking the floor and stepping up to the podium, the Turkish president greeted Tugay with these words: “Izmir is different today”. His speech was interrupted by chants from party members from Izmir. After his address, Erdoğan invited Cemil Tugay onto the stage and pinned the party badge on the mayor, reported the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet.
Tugay champions Erdogan’s political legacy
“I have been mayor for seven and a half years,” said Tugay during his speech. “During my term in office, first in (the district of) Karşıyaka and then at the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, I served all our fellow citizens without distinguishing between one group and another,” the mayor continued.
“Why do we engage in politics? A great leader explained it in his speeches as follows: ‘Whose rights do we defend in politics? We defend the rights of the forgotten, the poor, the wronged, the oppressed, the farmers and the shopkeepers in the marginalised neighbourhoods of this country. The AK Party is the protector of the defenceless.’ These words belong to our great leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has left his mark on the last 25 years of the Republic of Turkey,” emphasised Tugay.
“Under the leadership of our President, who has more than 30 years’ experience in state administration, and with the valuable support of the AK Party family, which shares this same experience, we are setting out to revitalise Izmir, resolve its problems and, in effect, rebuild our city,” he stated.
Tugay added in his speech that harmony and cooperation between local and central government would undoubtedly enable to achieve great things for Izmir. “However, we will never forget that the most important thing is to earn the trust and win the hearts of our nation. I will never forget this,” he assured.
“We are going to solve Izmir’s problems”
Following the opening meeting of the legislative year with AKP MPs, held at the AKP Congress Centre and at which he was introduced as a new party member, Tugay answered journalists’ questions about his surprise move to join the ranks of the political party led by Erdoğan, although for weeks now some newspapers in Türkiye had been reporting on the possibility of him joining the AKP.
“Right now we are all thinking about one thing: providing the best possible services to Izmir and solving Izmir’s problems. In this regard, I feel very calm. We will return and work day and night. Believe me, Izmir will suddenly feel relieved and better,” he said, explaining his reasons.
Who is Cemil Tugay?
Cemil Tugay, born on 13 June 1967 in Van, is a Turkish politician and doctor and has been mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality since 2024. He had previously served as mayor of the Karşıyaka district – located to the north of the city – between 2019 and 2024.
Tugay graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Ege University in 1989 and completed his specialisation in Plastic Surgery in 2000, practising as a doctor for several years until he was elected mayor. He is married and has three children. His eldest daughter is studying for a master’s degree, his son is at university and his youngest daughter is at secondary school. As well as Turkish, Tugay speaks English and French.
A blow to the Turkish opposition that deepens the CHP’s crisis
A total of 108 mayors have joined the AKP from other parties over the last two years, and the majority were, in fact, members of the CHP. The metropolitan councils of Ankara and Istanbul – the country’s other two major cities – remain, in theory, in the hands of the CHP, although the mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavaş, left the party in September, whilst Istanbul is governed by Nuri Aslan, the acting mayor who succeeded Ekrem Imamoğlu after the latter was arrested on corruption charges in 2025.
Tugay, mayor of Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, tendered his resignation in June as a member of the CHP, Turkey’s main opposition party, in the wake of a severe internal crisis within the party founded by Atatürk, caused by disputes between supporters of the party’s secretary-general until this year, Özgür Özel, and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who was reinstated as party leader in May following a controversial ruling handed down by the Turkish courts regarding allegations of vote-buying in the party’s internal elections held in 2023, which had resulted in Özel’s election. Subsequently, Özel founded his own party with 90 CHP MPs, the so-called Yeni Parti (New Party), which currently holds de facto control over the majority of councillors on the Izmir Metropolitan City Council.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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