YENİ Party to rally in Üsküdar on September 13 over mayor's removal

September 11, 2026 at 04:44 PM2 min

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YENİ Party will hold a rally at Üsküdar Pier Square on September 13 at 19:00 to protest the removal of elected Mayor Sinem Dedetaş and the transfer of municipal control to the AKP. Party leader Özgür Özel and Istanbul provincial chair Özgür Çelik are expected to attend. The protest follows the arrest of Dedetaş on July 31, a court-ordered rerun of the deputy mayor election, and the defection of four CHP council members to the AKP.

Key Facts

YENİ Party will hold a rally at Üsküdar Pier Square on September 13 at 19:00.
Elected Üsküdar Mayor Sinem Dedetaş was arrested on July 31 and removed from office by the Interior Ministry.
In the rerun deputy mayor election on September 8, AKP-MHP candidate Dündar Ziya Gültekin received 23 votes to Sibel Tan Çetinkaya's 19.
Four CHP council members—Ahmet Başbaydar, Ayhan Aydın, Hüseyin Kazan, and Tahsin Usta—resigned and joined the AKP before the rerun.

The Rally

YENİ Party will gather at Üsküdar Pier Square on September 13 at 19:00 under the slogan "Karar Milletindir, Üsküdar Milletindir" (The Decision Belongs to the Nation, Üsküdar Belongs to the Nation). Party leader Özgür Özel and Istanbul provincial chair Özgür Çelik will attend the rally. Çelik called on supporters to defend the will of Üsküdar residents, democracy, and the Republic under Özel's leadership. He ended his call with the words "Darbeciler kaybedecek, halk kazanacak" (The coup plotters will lose, the people will win).

The Removal of Mayor Dedetaş

Sinem Dedetaş, the elected mayor of Üsküdar, was arrested on July 31 and subsequently removed from office by the Interior Ministry. In the August 5 election to choose her acting replacement, opposition candidate Sibel Tan Çetinkaya won with 22 votes in the fourth round, while AKP candidate Dündar Ziya Gültekin received 18. The Istanbul 2nd Administrative Court later issued a stay of execution on the election after an appeal by Gültekin, paving the way for a rerun.

Council Defections and Rerun

Before the rerun, four CHP council members—Ahmet Başbaydar, Ayhan Aydın, Hüseyin Kazan, and Tahsin Usta—resigned from their party and joined the AKP. The defections shifted the council arithmetic in favor of the AKP and MHP. In the September 8 rerun, AKP-MHP candidate Dündar Ziya Gültekin won with 23 votes against Sibel Tan Çetinkaya's 19 in the fourth round. As a result, control of Üsküdar Municipality, which the opposition had won in the 2024 local elections, passed to the AKP through the deputy mayor election.