Main opposition loses majority in İstanbul district council after acting mayor, 2 members quit party

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has lost control of the district council in Beykoz, on İstanbul’s Asian shore, after acting mayor Özlem Vural Gürzel and council members Uğur Gökdemir and Murat Uzun resigned from the party, saying they would continue as independents.

Gürzel, elected acting mayor on March 10 after the current mayor was jailed, said she was leaving the CHP, alleging she had faced insults, sexist remarks and pressure and that she could no longer serve effectively “under these conditions.” Her statement was reported by local media that cited her social posts.

Gökdemir said the recent turmoil had “worn [him] down,” adding that he felt unsupported in legal cases and would serve as an independent.

Uzun accused the CHP’s Beykoz district leadership of sowing division among the council group and likewise resigned.

With those departures, the CHP’s bloc falls from 18 seats to 15 in the 31-member Beykoz District Council — below the 16 votes needed for an absolute majority. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ally the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) together hold 13 seats. Earlier tallies listed 18 CHP, 11 AKP and two MHP members following the March 31, 2024 local elections.

Beykoz is one of İstanbul’s 39 districts and flipped to the CHP in the 2024 local elections, where the CHP’s Alaattin Köseler narrowly beat the AKP incumbent for mayor. On the council list vote, CHP won 44.66 percent to the AKP’s 42.26 percent, giving the CHP a working majority.

In March Köseler was detained in a procurement-rigging case and suspended from office; the council then chose Gürzel as acting mayor — 18 votes to 13 in the third round — with 31 members voting in that session. Köseler was briefly released on September 5, then re-arrested on September 6 on an appeal by the prosecutors, according to court records reported by Turkish media.

The CHP no longer commands 16 votes on its own. With 15 CHP members, 13 from the AKP–MHP and at least three independents — including the two newly resigned council members and the acting mayor if she retains her seat as an independent — routine approvals, including budgets, appointments and committee seats, now require across-the-aisle deals.

Gürzel will continue as acting mayor unless and until the council votes otherwise or a court decision changes the setup, but her break with the CHP complicates internal discipline and voting.

The council shakeup comes as the CHP faces intense legal and political pressure. On September 8, police used pepper spray to disperse crowds outside the party’s İstanbul headquarters amid a court move to replace the provincial leader. Authorities also restricted access to major social platforms overnight.