The local elections in Turkey are about more than a few town halls. At stake is President Erdoğan’s future power politics. And the fate of his closest challenger.
Whoever governs Istanbul controls the fate of one and a half times as many people as the Greek Prime Minister, 15 million. Whoever governs Istanbul has a larger budget than many ministers in the actual Turkish capital, Ankara. Whoever governs Istanbul can issue billions in building permits and thousands of civil servant jobs.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan desperately wants to rule Istanbul again. Because his declared political enemy is still sitting there in the town hall: Ekrem İmamoğlu.