YENİ Party rally in Üsküdar: Özel explains municipal council process

YENİ Party gathered at Üsküdar İskele Square; party leader Özgür Özel detailed the council process that followed the detention of Mayor Sinem Dedetaş.

Following Dedetaş's suspension from office, the deputy mayor election won by CHP-backed Sibel Tan Çetinkaya was annulled by the Istanbul Governor's Office at the AKP's objection. During the process in which the Governor's Office set the new election date, two CHP council members were detained while four members switched to the AKP. In the subsequent vote, Cumhur İttifakı candidate Dündar Ziya Gültekin was elected deputy mayor with 23 votes.

Üsküdar is no stranger to this playbook: in 2023, a similar controversy over court-appointed trustee administrators had dominated the political agenda in other Istanbul districts; this time, however, the process concluded by directly altering the arithmetic of the elected council.

YENİ Party Istanbul Provincial Chairman Özgür Çelik argued that judicial pressure was applied to the members who switched to the AKP. Özel, speaking at the rally, said: "Actually, they were aiming for more," asserting that the government's true goal was not limited to a single district.

The rally took place in the evening.