Detained Muhittin Böcek declares his allegiance: “Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu is our CHP leader”

From prison, suspended Antalya Mayor Muhittin Böcek has set out his political allegiances in a letter that pointedly calls Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu “our CHP leader.”

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Mr. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu became our CHP leader.

Böcek’s letter was posted on his X account. While recounting his political history, he referred to Özgür Özel only by name when discussing his 2024 candidacy. In a section about 2026, however, he wrote: “Mr. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu became our CHP leader.”

He said he was first elected Konyaaltı mayor in 1999 as a candidate of the Motherland Party, known by its Turkish initials ANAP. He then won the same office for the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, in 2004, 2009 and 2014. In the 2019 local elections, he became the Nation Alliance’s candidate for Antalya mayor and won. For 2024, he said Özgür Özel nominated him and that he won a second consecutive term under the slogan “Mayor of Everyone,” receiving the votes of one in every two voters.

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Mayor of Everyone

Böcek described himself as a Yörük from the Taurus Mountains and said he had worked for Turkey, the state, the nation, Antalya and its residents for 32 years. “I became a municipal mayoral candidate six times and was elected every time,” he wrote. He also said he had not bowed to blackmail, surrendered to threats or excluded anyone. He ended by thanking the political elders who had supported him and expressing condolences for those who had died.

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I became a municipal mayoral candidate six times and was elected every time.