President ERDOGAN loses control over mega town Istanbul and capital Ankara

Opinion leaders in politics comment that President ERDOGAN (head of ruling AK Party as well)  lost control over Ankara and Istanbul, two giant metropoles as a result of local election in Turkey, on 31 March 2019. ERDOGAN has deserved the title of invincible due to his 15 election victories so far.

Actually Erdogan has won 16 elections to include the one on March 31, as Ak Party is still the party with highest percentage of votes in said election as well. However, this will not be enough to make him happy as Ankara and Istanbul in Istanbul are very important cities and there is a traditional saying in Turkish politics that goes; “The party that wins Istanbul, will win Turkey as well”.

Therefore although the president has won all elections he has seen so far, the loss of Ankara and Istanbul has no doubt been a big blow for him, even causing concerns for the general elections to come in 5 year time.

Experts also note that Ak Party suffered defeat in some other provinces such as Adana, Mersin, Antalya and Bolu etc and this should not be underestimated as the opposition now has a big opportunity to increase its votes by providing good municipal services in places won.

On the other hand the ruling Ak Party is expected to look in the mirror to see what was done wrong and improve and upgrade its policies and strategies. However, Turkey may (and will actually) have to go through some real difficult times in terms of economy which may have a bad impact on citizens and it goes without saying the bill will be charged to the ruling party again.

To recap, it seems as if Turkey is destined to experience  an interesting period in the coming months.