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DE RUEHIT #0630 3581340
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P 231340Z DEC 08
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8664
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
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UNCLAS ISTANBUL 000630 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OSCE PGOV PREL TU
SUBJECT: AKP'S ISTANBUL MAYOR TO STAND FOR RE-ELECTION 
 
¶1.  On December 21 Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan 
announced that Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party 
(AKP) will re-nominate Kadir Topbas, the current Mayor of the 
Greater Istanbul Municipality, for a second five-year term. 
He is expected to win re-election easily in the upcoming 
nationwide local elections, scheduled for March 29. Earlier 
this month, the Republican People's Party (CHP), which is 
expected to be AKP's most formidable opponent in the local 
elections, announced that its candidate would be Cem Kozlu, a 
well-known businessman. 
¶2.  Istanbul is Turkey's largest city, with a population of 
over 12 million.  It consists of 39 districts, each with its 
own mayor and district council.  The district governments are 
responsible for local affairs, while the Municipal Mayor and 
Municipal Council are responsible for issues that affect the 
city at large.  In the 2004 local elections, Topbas received 
43 percent of the votes, with the CHP candidate getting 26 
percent and the remaining votes split among a variety of 
minor parties.  AKP also won 24 of Istanbul's then-existing 
32 districts, with the CHP winning five, and the Motherland 
Party (ANAP) three.  (The secular and nominally leftist CHP 
is the main opposition party in Parliament.  ANAP was once a 
major party on the Turkish right, but is now relegated to the 
political margins.) 
¶3.  Topbas is well-liked, even by Municipal Council members 
from opposition parties and voters who otherwise do not 
support AKP.  He is considered hard-working, and is 
particularly appreciated for the improvements he has made to 
highways and mass transit.  However, he is not viewed as 
having a strong personal political base -- PM Erdogan, who 
was mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s and is still appreciated 
for having implemented wide-ranging and substantial reforms, 
is considered to be the real power in Istanbul politics. 
¶4.  To date, AKP has announced candidates in only five 
high-profile cities (the other four being Konya, Kayseri, 
Antalya, and Kocaeli), all of them the sitting mayors.  The 
nomination of these five indicates that AKP is, on the whole, 
pleased with their performance. Per press reports, the 
remainder of AKP's candidates will be announced by January 15. 
¶5.  Biographical Notes: Topbas, 63 years old, started his 
career as a preacher in Edirne.  He then turned to 
architecture, earning a PhD in architectural history from 
Istanbul University.  Between 1994 and 1998 he served as an 
advisor on architectural issues to then-Istanbul Mayor 
Erdogan.  In 1999, he was elected Mayor of the Beyoglu 
District, running on the ticket of the Virtue Party, an AKP 
predecessor.  Kozlu, 62 years old, holds a B.A. from Denison 
University, an MBA from Stanford, and a PhD in administrative 
sciences from Bosphorus University.  He has held senior 
management positions with Coca Cola, Turkish Airlines, and 
Proctor and Gamble, and is a trustee of Sabanci University, 
Anadolu-Johns Hopkins Health Center, and Istanbul Modern Arts 
Foundation.  In the 1990s he was an ANAP member of 
Parliament. He has published six books on business and 
economics. 
Oudkirk