Two more opposition mayors have joined Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s president and head of the AKP, announced on November 19.

Isa Yildirim is the former main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) mayor of Aksu district in Antalya province on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, while Necati Koc is the former Yeniden Refah Party (YRP) mayor of Sarayonu district of central Anatolian province Konya.

Erdogan pinned lapel pins to the duo during a ceremony held after he addressed his party’s parliamentary group.

Yildirim has changed party eight times since 2004, according to local media reports.

Video: Yildirim attempts to kiss Erdogan’s hand.

Scores of municipalities seized

In the past four months, 20 opposition mayors have joined the AKP, according to Daily Sabah, a pro-government newspaper directed by Serhat Albayrak (a brother of Erdogan’s older son-in-law Berat Albayrak). But it is not possible to reliably count the exact number of opposition mayors who have gone over to the AKP.

As of August, media reports suggested that the number of mayors stood at 56, including 24 YRP, 15 independent, seven CHP, seven Iyi Party, one Saadet, one DEM and one DEVA.

As of September, the figure apparently rose to 59.

Additionally, the government seized 10 DEM and three CHP municipalities, alleging links to terrorism. Two CHP municipalities were seized via polls arranged in their district parliaments after their mayors were arrested for corruption.

(See the latest situation as regards operations targeting the opposition here).

PKK charges dropped

​​On November 11, the number of jailed CHP mayors fell to 18, including two mayors from Buyukcekmece, after Ahmet Ozer was released.

Ozer was mayor of Esenyurt district in Istanbul. A Kurd, in October last year he became the first CHP mayor arrested.

Ozer was arrested on terrorism claims since the imprisoned Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), had offered him a chance to join peace efforts as an independent mediating academic during a ceasefire process that was taking place back in 2015.

After Ozer’s arrest, the PKK entered into contacts with the AKP that, by the summer of this year, de facto meant it became a component of the ruling coalition. Coalition members then called for the release of Ozer. Many Kurdish politicians, meanwhile, remain in jail despite calls for their release.

AKP remains "dominant"

The AKP fared poorly in the 2024 local elections elections, coming in behind the CHP in most municipalities.

The party, however, still dominates the Turkish political scene thanks to its successive victories over the past 23 years, especially in general elections that have made Erdogan one of the longest-serving leaders in the history of the Republic of Turkey, first as prime minister and then as president, Daily Sabah noted.

The majority of the opposition mayors that have gone over to the AKP are from the YRP. It supported the Erdogan-led alliance in the 2023 general election, it added.

The CHP protests that the regime threatens its mayors with jail in order to push them to join the AKP.