Turkey’s Kurds could sway Istanbul vote in Sunday’s local polls

ISTANBUL/DIYARBAKIR - Many of Turkey's Kurds are set to put aside party loyalty and back Tayyip Erdogan's major rival in Istanbul on Sunday, knocking the president's hopes of winning back the city he once ran, according to pollsters.

Pro-Kurdish DEM party voters were pivotal to Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu's win in 2019 municipal elections, which shocked Erdogan and ended 25 years of rule by his AK Party (AKP) and its Islamist predecessors in Istanbul. It also gave the opposition a critical foothold on power over the last five years.

But the opposition's devastating defeat to Erdogan in last May's presidential vote has changed the political landscape, leaving DEM voters split on how best to advance the cause of minority Kurdish rights.

In Istanbul, polls show Imamoglu of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and his AKP challenger are neck-and-neck, with the DEM...