Tim Arango
Ceylan Yeginsu
As
the campaign bus moved through Istanbul’s traffic, the cityscape
blurred: construction cranes, new shopping malls and boutiques, a
billboard for the luxury department store Harvey Nichols — all signposts
of a city more populous than some European countries, vastly reshaped
under the Islamist government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Inside
the bus was a secular candidate to be the next mayor, Mustafa Sarigul,
who for years has led Istanbul’s most affluent district, Sisli, and is
now the greatest hope among Mr. Erdogan’s opponents. They see Sunday’s
mayoral elections as the first step in loosening the hold that Mr.
Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, known as the A.K.P., has over
Turkish politics.
