Tayyip Erdogan names nationalist candidate

Ankara, Jan 19 (IANS) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan named Turgut Altinok, a former member of the hard-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), as his candidate for the upcoming election of a new Mayor for capital Ankara.

In the crucial elections scheduled for March, Altinok will run against the incumbent mayor of the capital city, Mansur Yavas, from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), reports Xinhua news agency.

Altinok is the incumbent mayor of Ankara's Kecioren district.

The MHP had allied with Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the May 2023 general elections.

The AKP seeks to win back control of Turkey's big cities from the CHP in the nationwide municipal elections on March 31 after losing the capital Ankara and the largest city Istanbul to the CHP in the 2019 elections.

Earlier this month, Erdogan named his former environment minister, Murat Kurum, as the AKP's candidate for the Istanbul mayoral election.

Meanwhile, he named Hamza Dag, AKP's deputy chairman, as his party's candidate for the western Izmir city.

The President announced his candidates in all cities, except for seven, where his party will support its alliance partner MHP.

Erdogan also revealed that district candidates would be announced as of Saturday, beginning with Istanbul.