Hommam Al Nassim 
Turkey’s main opposition party won a major victory in local elections by winning the main cities of Istanbul and Ankara.
The results are a major blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had hoped to regain control of cities less than a year after winning a third term.
Ekrem Imamoglu, who won the Istanbul mayorship for the first time in 2019, won a second victory for the secular opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).
Imamoglu, the candidate of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), declared victory in mayoral elections in Turkey’s largest city and said he was leading by more than a million votes after 96 percent of ballots were counted.
While Erdogan has heralded a new era in Turkey’s big city of about 16 million people, Istanbul’s current mayor was on course to win more than 50 percent of the vote, more than 10 points ahead of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) candidate.
A Turkish frigate conducts military training off the coast of Libya