Erdogan backs former environment chief to win back Istanbul
3 years agoTurkish President Tayyip Erdogan (C) announces Murat Kurum (L) as his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) candidate in Istanbul's upcoming mayoral election in March, in Istanbul on January 7, 2024. - Murat Kurum will represent Erdogan's Islamic conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the March 31 municipal elections in which control of Turkey's main cities will be up for grabs. The secular opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) seized back control of Istanbul for the first time since Erdogan ruled the city as mayor in the 1990s in watershed 2019 polls. (Photo by YASIN AKGUL / AFP)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday entrusted a former environment minister to run for mayor of Istanbul and avenge the worst political defeat of the Turkish leader's two-decade rule.