Junta-like rule in Çankaya, says rival
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by İzgi Güngör
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 06, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - The Çankaya Municipality is being run like a junta over which the CHP has no control and is trying to garner more votes by creating polarization between secularists and anti-secularists as well as between Sunnis and Alevis, says the AKP’s mayor candidate Bülent Akarcalı
The ruling party mayoral candidate for Çankaya has said those currently running the Ankara district are operating like a junta and likened the municipality to a tumor eating away at the Republican People’s Party, or CHP.
"This tumor needs to be eliminated by the CHP electorates themselves in the upcoming elections. The Çankaya Municipality has become a disgrace to the CHP in the last 20 years, as evidenced by the corruption cases filed against the municipality’s top cadre," Bülent Akarcalı, the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP’s, candidate for Çankaya, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in an interview.
"The municipality is acting like a junta over which the CHP has no control. It has created a ghetto in Çankaya where it tries to court voters by giving rise to a dangerous polarization between secularism and anti-secularism as well as the Sunnis and Alevis, something which is likely to end in separatism."
For the local elections, the AKP picked Akarcalı, a center-right politician who served as both health and tourism ministers during the Turgut Özal and Mesut Yılmaz governments between 1987 and 1991, to end the decades of CHP dominance in Çankaya, which is known to be a CHP stronghold and densely populated by secular elites. Akarcalı will run against the CHP’s Bülent Tanık, who is favored as the most likely winner in the mayoral race by many political observers.
CHP seeks vote over polarization
Both parties claim the other has no chance in the March elections, but Akarcalı believes his decades of political, managerial and entrepreneurial experience both at the national and international level will be an asset to him in attaining the mayoral seat, as well as realizing his projects and meeting Çankaya with the West if elected. Receiving the support of the ruling government and metropolitan municipality is also an advantage for him.
The Çankaya Municipality has demonstrated clumsy management and attempts to make political issues out of republican values and conflicts to conceal its corruption and lack of quality services, according to Akarcalı. Çankaya is Turkey’s largest district with 800,000 people and 585,000 voters. He said there was a substantial portion of Alevis living in Çankaya and the CHP saw them only as potential votes, threatening Alevis to vote for the CHP or see a possible Islamic state run by anti-secular Sunnis, an issue sensitive to Alevis, who have traditionally voted for the left-wing parties.
"We want Çankaya because we want to end the CHP junta in Çankaya and this polarization. We want to offer more quality mayoral services to Çankaya residents irrespective of their origin, religion or ethnic identity. I can draw considerable support from the West thanks to my former international experience and my acquaintance with the international community abroad in this respect," said Akarcalı.
"If elected, I will establish a unit comprising staff proficient in different languages and who can easily communicate with foreigners living in Çankaya and respond to their needs," he said. "I am determined to shatter all taboos. I have no other political target so I will mobilize for a better Çankaya. I will demonstrate political determination but we will govern Çankaya with Çankaya residents," he said.
"This tumor needs to be eliminated by the CHP electorates themselves in the upcoming elections. The Çankaya Municipality has become a disgrace to the CHP in the last 20 years, as evidenced by the corruption cases filed against the municipality’s top cadre," Bülent Akarcalı, the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP’s, candidate for Çankaya, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in an interview.
"The municipality is acting like a junta over which the CHP has no control. It has created a ghetto in Çankaya where it tries to court voters by giving rise to a dangerous polarization between secularism and anti-secularism as well as the Sunnis and Alevis, something which is likely to end in separatism."
For the local elections, the AKP picked Akarcalı, a center-right politician who served as both health and tourism ministers during the Turgut Özal and Mesut Yılmaz governments between 1987 and 1991, to end the decades of CHP dominance in Çankaya, which is known to be a CHP stronghold and densely populated by secular elites. Akarcalı will run against the CHP’s Bülent Tanık, who is favored as the most likely winner in the mayoral race by many political observers.
CHP seeks vote over polarization
Both parties claim the other has no chance in the March elections, but Akarcalı believes his decades of political, managerial and entrepreneurial experience both at the national and international level will be an asset to him in attaining the mayoral seat, as well as realizing his projects and meeting Çankaya with the West if elected. Receiving the support of the ruling government and metropolitan municipality is also an advantage for him.
The Çankaya Municipality has demonstrated clumsy management and attempts to make political issues out of republican values and conflicts to conceal its corruption and lack of quality services, according to Akarcalı. Çankaya is Turkey’s largest district with 800,000 people and 585,000 voters. He said there was a substantial portion of Alevis living in Çankaya and the CHP saw them only as potential votes, threatening Alevis to vote for the CHP or see a possible Islamic state run by anti-secular Sunnis, an issue sensitive to Alevis, who have traditionally voted for the left-wing parties.
"We want Çankaya because we want to end the CHP junta in Çankaya and this polarization. We want to offer more quality mayoral services to Çankaya residents irrespective of their origin, religion or ethnic identity. I can draw considerable support from the West thanks to my former international experience and my acquaintance with the international community abroad in this respect," said Akarcalı.
"If elected, I will establish a unit comprising staff proficient in different languages and who can easily communicate with foreigners living in Çankaya and respond to their needs," he said. "I am determined to shatter all taboos. I have no other political target so I will mobilize for a better Çankaya. I will demonstrate political determination but we will govern Çankaya with Çankaya residents," he said.