Erdoğan vows more mayors from opposition will join AKP

President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed that more mayors from the opposition parties will join the AKP after five district governors joined the ruling party on Jan. 14.

"Five new mayors have joined the AK Party. I believe this figure will increase in the coming weeks," Erdoğan told a meeting with the AKP mayors in Ankara.

Two independent mayors, one each from the Republican People's Party (CHP), Good Party and the Felicity Party joined the ruling party during the AKP's parliamentary group meeting. Reports suggest that around 100 mayors from different parties will join the AKP in the coming period.

"We will continue to expand our team of mayors with the joining of new figures. I am sure this number will increase gradually. Our doors are open to everybody having love for their country and nation in his or her heart," he said. The AKP will provide all sorts of assistance to the mayors joining the AKP, he stressed.

The AKP will focus on the future instead of looking back at the past and it won't build bureaucratic walls in front of the people, Erdoğan stated, underlining that municipalities are the best and efficient ways for the political parties to reach out to all the citizens even in the most remote parts of the country.

"Local governments have always been the engine in our journey over the years. Whatever their financial situation might be, each of our municipality has something to learn from other municipal administrations," he said.

Mayors should not turn their job into a show, Erdoğan said "You see what happens to those who are in efforts to turn their jobs into a show. Their real faces have started to appear even in less than a year. Our expectation from our...