CHP criticizes mayor's defection to AKP, calls it betrayal of voter will

Görkem Yıldırım, the CHP Keçiören District Chairman, strongly condemned the reported defection of Keçiören Mayor Mesut Özarslan to the AKP. Yıldırım stated that the people of Keçiören did not elect a mayor to be subject to political bargaining, but rather entrusted the Republican People's Party (CHP) with their will based on its principles and understanding of public service.

"The success achieved in Keçiören on March 31, 2024, is not the personal property of any individual," Yıldırım declared. He emphasized that the victory was a collective effort of the party's organization, volunteers, youth, women, and most importantly, the people of Keçiören. The current situation, he argued, represents a "grave political fracture" against this shared will, characterizing the mayor's decision not as a personal choice but as transferring a position won with CHP votes to a party that has historically opposed the CHP.

Yıldırım asserted that no one should expect the CHP to remain silent while the mandate given by the people is transferred elsewhere. He dismissed claims that the issue is about personal grievances or past polemics, insisting the core problem is the relocation of authority granted by Keçiören's residents to the CHP. He pointed out that earlier rumors of party switching were denied, but the current reality confirms those earlier "political orientations."

The CHP district head deemed the situation unacceptable from both a political ethics and voter will perspective. He stated unequivocally that the people of Keçiören did not vote to hand over the municipality to the AKP. Instead, they elected it under the CHP's banner with a promise of social municipalism and a public-oriented administration. This decision, he argued, carries a significant political accountability not only to the CHP but also to the vote, the effort, and the trust placed in the process. Yıldırım concluded by rejecting the narrative of a simple party change, framing it as an integration of a popularly elected office into the ruling bloc's political agenda and a surrender to the political line represented by figures like Turgut Altınok and Melih Gökçek, against whom the CHP had previously campaigned.