AKP-run municipality attempts to prevent İmamoğlu’s rally with public buses
AKP-run Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality brought public buses together in the square where CHP Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu will hold an election rally. After backlash, the municipality moved the buses elsewhere.
Duvar English
The Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality, run by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), on May 7 brought public buses together in the square where Republican People’s Party (CHP) Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu will hold an election rally to prevent his rally.
İmamoğlu shared the footage of the buses on Twitter and said “An attempt is being made to prevent our meeting with my fellow citizens from Erzurum at 6 p.m.. Mayor of Erzurum Metropolitan Municipality Mehmet Sekmen, you will carry this black mark of rudeness for the rest of your life. At 6 p.m., I am waiting for all Erzurum residents at the square. Come on Erzurum.”
Joint presidential candidate and CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu also shared İmamoğlu’s tweet and said “You saw what the AKP Mayor of Erzurum did. We have to pass this threshold, young people. They cannot stop my son, Ekrem, with this.”
After a few hours following public and political backlash, journalist İsmail Saymaz announced that the municipality relocated the buses.
“The AKP Metropolitan Municipality, which thinks Erzurum is their father's garden (a Turkish idiom) and discredited the city with its partisan and law-abiding attitude, moved the buses from the square after protests,” Saymaz said.