CHP Loses 15th Mayor to AKP as IFC Invests $25B in Turkey
Burcu Köksal, the CHP mayor of Afyonkarahisar, is set to become the 15th CHP mayor to defect to the AKP since the 2024 local elections; AKP's Ömer Çelik teased the announcement and former CHP secretary-general Sevigen warned more will follow unless the party purges its corrupt mayors. The IFC said its Türkiye portfolio has crossed $25bn — its third-largest country exposure. UN Under-Secretary-General Lacroix asked for an expanded Turkish peacekeeping role; airspace fees hit a record TL 33.05bn ($727.7m, +53% YoY); Queen Mathilde landed with a 428-business mission, the first in 14 years.
Turkey's main opposition continued to bleed mayors. Burcu Köksal, the CHP mayor of the western city of Afyonkarahisar, is expected to become the 15th CHP mayor to defect to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's AK Party since the 2024 local elections, with party officials telling Sabah she has refused calls and meeting requests once the rumours broke. AKP spokesman Ömer Çelik, asked about her on Saturday, said journalists "may see who will join the party at the next parliamentary group meeting." Mehmet Sevigen, the former CHP secretary-general, told the same paper the party was "not managed well" and "stuck between Ankara and Silivri" — a reference to the Istanbul prison holding former Istanbul mayor and would-be presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu — and warned more resignations would follow unless the party expelled its corrupt mayors. Dissident Mustafa Yavuz pointed to the Uşak case in particular: Özkan Yalım, detained at a hotel during a corruption raid that exposed an extramarital affair, was kept on for two months before expulsion. Yavuz claimed three more mayors are preparing to switch.
On the financial-diplomatic side, the International Finance Corporation said it has invested more than $25 billion in Türkiye over the past decade, making the country the third-largest exposure in its global portfolio. IFC director Lisa Kaestner outlined priorities for the next phase as job creation, productivity gains and support for small and medium-sized enterprises — language that lines up with Ankara's pitch as Turkish lira liquidity tightens and global volatility rises. The flow ran in parallel with Belgium's Queen Mathilde leading a 428-strong private-sector delegation, alongside Belgian ministers, on a 10-14 May economic mission — the first such visit in 14 years — aimed at lifting bilateral trade above the $9.2 billion logged in 2025, with energy, defence, aviation, logistics and technology on the agenda and a Türkiye-Belgium Economic Forum scheduled.
On the security register, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix wrapped a 4-7 May visit to Turkey by telling Anadolu the UN is eager to expand Turkish participation in peacekeeping missions, calling Turkish personnel "remarkable" after meetings in Ankara and a tour of the Turkish Police Academy. Lacroix also reported six peacekeepers killed in current missions in his comments to the agency.
The day's economic backdrop included a record from the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMI), which said Türkiye generated TL 33.05 billion (about $727.7 million) in airspace-usage revenue in 2025 — a 53 percent jump from TL 21.59 billion the year before, leaving the country sixth among 42 Eurocontrol members on the national cost-base index and second on airspace demand. The figure, the diplomatic guests and the IFC milestone together make the case Erdoğan's officials want to put forward to international audiences this week — even as the political ground in Anatolia keeps shifting under the CHP.