Ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) mayoral candidate Murat Kurum has vowed to make Istanbul a "risk-, trouble- and stress-free city" for its residents in mayoral elections next month.

Speaking at his "Risk-Free Istanbul" rally in Türkiye’s largest metropolitan city on Thursday, Kurum condemned his main rival, incumbent Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu of the Republican People's Party (CHP), for "failing Istanbul in every way for the past five years" and said the "solution lies with services that center the people."

"The CHP administration deceived Istanbulites with false promises of transformation, they mocked the city by releasing the earthquake mobilization plan three times and betrayed the future of our children," Kurum said.

The former environment, urban planning and climate change minister is focusing his campaign on the urban transformation of earthquake-prone Istanbul, which sits on a major fault line, as well as strengthening public transport and bolstering technical and social infrastructure.

Holistic planning

Kurum said his projects will have six fundamental principles, prioritizing risky buildings, new social housing, rejuvenating historic values and city squares, transforming industrial fields and implementing an effective climate change plan.

His promises for the high-stakes local elections are part of the declaration the AK Party has unveiled for Türkiye’s all 81 provinces, which the party's chair, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has named "True Municipalism."

In a ceremony last month, Erdoğan said his party would build disaster-resistant settlements and prepare cities against climate change while implementing infrastructure compatible with digital technologies and projects that will protect culture and bolster local administrations.

Kurum relies on his experience in post-disaster reconstruction as he has overseen the rebuilding of cities after floods and earthquakes in the past.

Experts often warn that Istanbul will likely experience a major earthquake in the coming years as it is located near major fault lines. Kurum’s campaign promises the removal of all buildings at risk of damage and the construction of 650,000 housing units instead of old buildings that cannot endure disasters.

He assured some 250,000 houses would be "transformed on-site" initially and that urban transformation projects that "suit citizens’ needs and lifestyles" would increase during his tenure.

He also said some 300,000 units would be constructed by KIPTAŞ – a subsidiary of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) – with TL 700,000 ($22,770) in grants for owners and another TL 700,000 for a loan per house, as well as TL 100,000 in financial assistance for rent and moving expenses for house owners whose houses will be rebuilt elsewhere.

The issue of disaster-resistant construction has particularly come to the fore following last year’s twin earthquakes that killed over 53,000 and leveled thousands of buildings in Türkiye’s 11 southern provinces.

Modern urbanism

The AK Party administration has transformed 2.2 million homes across Türkiye and built 1.3 million social housing units while renovating 800,000 independent areas in Istanbul in the past 12 years, Kurum on Thursday boasted.

He said AK Party mayors would consider the Marmara region as a whole and design their projects based on Türkiye’s traditional and horizontal architecture.

Innovative city administration, modern urbanism and urban design trends will guide the projects, Kurum said.

"We will realize not classical planning but sustainable planning principles that will provide Istanbulites new opportunities and allow them to breathe."

The former minister is also pledging to construct 100,000 social housing units that will be completed in 18 months and rented to the city’s residents in 39 districts.

Imamoğlu’s bid

Some 64 million eligible voters are set to elect mayors and local administrators in 81 provinces in March this year, but the mayoral race for Istanbul and the capital Ankara, both of which have been run by the CHP since it clinched a surprise victory in the 2019 elections for the first time in over two decades, hog most of the public attention.

The AK Party is therefore eager to recapture the two key cities from the opposition.

While the party is relying on Turgut Altınok against incumbent Mayor Mansur Yavaş of the CHP in Ankara, the race for Istanbul is flashier since the city is considered, politically, the most important administrative region in the country.

While smaller opposition parties like the Good Party (IP) and the PKK-affiliated Green Left Party (YSP), informally known as the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), are fielding their own candidates, Kurum’s biggest challenger for Istanbul mayoralty is Imamoğlu.

Imamoğlu has lost some of his luster since the opposition’s joint support put him in the mayoral office in 2019. He mounted a coup at the CHP last summer to replace then-Chairperson Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu with his favored man, Özgür Özel.

But internal feuds have since caused a rift, including quarrels between the mayor and the chair on preferences on district mayor candidates, souring public opinion of Türkiye’s oldest party even among its supporter base.

Imamoğlu, on top of fighting a lawsuit that could ban him from politics for good, has been facing an onslaught of criticism over increasing incidents, accidents and breakdowns in public transportation affiliated with his office.

The odds of Imamoğlu’s victory are currently low without endorsements from former allies, and recent polls have placed him either slightly behind or tied with Kurum.

The incumbent mayor is also promising a series of new metro lines crisscrossing the city, more green spaces, waste-to-energy projects and a "sturdier Istanbul" against disasters and crises.