Description
Until just recently, research on populism in Turkey focused mainly on the AKP and Erdoğan’s political strategy. But as the support for the ruling party decreases, other forces got a new chance to prove themselves capable of providing a powerful opposition. The local elections of 2019 brought surprising success for the CHP and its municipal candidate in Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu. But rather than presenting a clear agenda, İmamoğlu‘s strategy remains vague. His very simple slogan “Everything will be great” mobilized cross-party support, but does he really have the potential to fundamentally change the political system of Turkey, or is the CHP simply presenting a superficial strategy aiming at anti-AKP sentiments in order to take back the state apparatus? The paper aims to investigate the development of Istanbul’s municipality as an oppositional stronghold and the challenges it faces by the central government. I’m going to evaluate the political measures implemented by the İmamoğlu administration during its first year, comparing voters expectations and campaign promises with the practical application. Furthermore, I’m going to analyse the differences with the AKP.
