Izmir mayor defects to Erdogan’s AK Party, protests follow

Cemil Tugay, mayor of Izmir, Türkiye’s third-largest city, joined President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party in Ankara on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, after being elected as a candidate of the centre-left Republican People’s Party (CHP).

The switch ends 27 years of centre-left or left-wing rule in the Aegean port city and makes Tugay its first right-wing mayor since 1999, Euronews reported. Tugay won the March 2024 vote with 48.97 per cent against 37.06 per cent for the AK Party candidate, Hamza Dag, a margin of about 314,000 votes.

Erdogan pinned an AK Party badge on Tugay at the party’s headquarters and welcomed him in a speech to MPs at the opening of the legislative year. Erdogan said Izmir “is different today.” Tugay said: “Good things await Izmir.”

More than 1,000 people protested in the city that evening, Al-Monitor reported. Police barricaded the main squares, and riot police and at least four water cannon trucks were present near Cumhuriyet Square. Protesters chanted “Tugay, resign!” and some carried a makeshift coffin marked “Politically dead.” Police repeatedly ordered the crowd to disperse, but the protest ended peacefully.

Tugay had publicly ruled out the move. In August 2025, Euronews reported, he said there was “not even a one-in-a-million chance” he would join the AK Party. He left the CHP in June after a court ruling reinstated Kemal Kilicdaroglu as party leader, and sat as an independent for about three months. Many had expected him to join the New Party, founded by former CHP leader Ozgur Ozel. Euronews said he met Erdogan on Sept. 30.

Ozel said Tugay faced “threats, blackmail and pressure” and that the AK Party had “never won Izmir at the polls and never will,” according to Euronews. New Party spokesman Zeynel Emre said the switch cannot be judged separately from court cases against opposition mayors. The reports did not include a response from the AK Party to those allegations.

Berk Esen, a political analyst quoted by Al-Monitor, said the defection fits an AK Party strategy to reverse its 2024 local election defeat, and that many opposition mayors are switching out of fear of arrest or prosecution rather than a change of belief. Al-Monitor, citing the outlet Medyascope, said at least 17 opposition mayors had switched to the AK Party by Sept. 30. Those figures have not been independently verified by Canada News Media.

The change does not hand the AK Party control of the city. Both outlets reported that the New Party holds the largest bloc on the Izmir council, with 91 seats, while the AK Party has 39 after Tugay’s move. About a dozen cultural figures, including the artistic director of Izmir’s theatres, also resigned in protest, Al-Monitor said, citing the newspaper BirGun.

For Canadians, the Government of Canada’s travel advisory for Türkiye says to exercise a high degree of caution, and warns that demonstrations may occur and that even peaceful ones can turn violent at any time. It advises travellers to avoid protests and large crowds and to follow local authorities’ instructions. The advisory page shows no update date. Izmir is a popular Aegean destination, and no reports reviewed said any Canadians were affected.

The story is developing. Neither outlet reported a date for further protests or for any council vote.

Via Euronews and Al-Monitor.

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