AKP'S ISTANBUL MAYOR TO STAND FOR RE-ELECTION

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 000630 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OSCE PGOV PREL TU SUBJECT: AKP'S ISTANBUL MAYOR TO STAND FOR RE-ELECTION ¶1. On December 21 Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will re-nominate Kadir Topbas, the current Mayor of the Greater Istanbul Municipality, for a second five-year term. He is expected to win re-election easily in the upcoming nationwide local elections, scheduled for March 29. Earlier this month, the Republican People's Party (CHP),which is expected to be AKP's most formidable opponent in the local elections, announced that its candidate would be Cem Kozlu, a well-known businessman. ¶2. Istanbul is Turkey's largest city, with a population of over 12 million. It consists of 39 districts, each with its own mayor and district council. The district governments are responsible for local affairs, while the Municipal Mayor and Municipal Council are responsible for issues that affect the city at large. In the 2004 local elections, Topbas received 43 percent of the votes, with the CHP candidate getting 26 percent and the remaining votes split among a variety of minor parties. AKP also won 24 of Istanbul's then-existing 32 districts, with the CHP winning five, and the Motherland Party (ANAP) three. (The secular and nominally leftist CHP is the main opposition party in Parliament. ANAP was once a major party on the Turkish right, but is now relegated to the political margins.) ¶3. Topbas is well-liked, even by Municipal Council members from opposition parties and voters who otherwise do not support AKP. He is considered hard-working, and is particularly appreciated for the improvements he has made to highways and mass transit. However, he is not viewed as having a strong personal political base -- PM Erdogan, who was mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s and is still appreciated for having implemented wide-ranging and substantial reforms, is considered to be the real power in Istanbul politics. ¶4. To date, AKP has announced candidates in only five high-profile cities (the other four being Konya, Kayseri, Antalya, and Kocaeli),all of them the sitting mayors. The nomination of these five indicates that AKP is, on the whole, pleased with their performance. Per press reports, the remainder of AKP's candidates will be announced by January 15. ¶5. Biographical Notes: Topbas, 63 years old, started his career as a preacher in Edirne. He then turned to architecture, earning a PhD in architectural history from Istanbul University. Between 1994 and 1998 he served as an advisor on architectural issues to then-Istanbul Mayor Erdogan. In 1999, he was elected Mayor of the Beyoglu District, running on the ticket of the Virtue Party, an AKP predecessor. Kozlu, 62 years old, holds a B.A. from Denison University, an MBA from Stanford, and a PhD in administrative sciences from Bosphorus University. He has held senior management positions with Coca Cola, Turkish Airlines, and Proctor and Gamble, and is a trustee of Sabanci University, Anadolu-Johns Hopkins Health Center, and Istanbul Modern Arts Foundation. In the 1990s he was an ANAP member of Parliament. He has published six books on business and economics. Oudkirk