Stands of political parties, riot police with their minibuses and an armored vehicle of the Scorpion type, vehicles of the immigration authority, immigrants from Syrians to Africans, members of the Victory Party distributing their leaflets with the slogan „Let’s send the refugees away“…
Gaza banners with Ebu Ubeyde, commander of the Izzeddin Al Qassam Brigades, hanging at the district organization of the Re-Welfare Party, the district organizations of the Dersim Association and Alperen Hearths…
Invitation posters for the Kalima-Tawhid Conference of the Furkan Foundation, rude people running around, high school students, both boys and girls, recording TikTok videos, skyscrapers towering in the background…
If you stand in the middle of Esenyurt Square and turn around, you can see all of this and much more.
Esenyurt is an extremely dynamic and polyphonic district, both socially and culturally.
The district’s dynamics are also reflected in politics.
Esenyurt, which has mainly been on the agenda with „court cases“ in the media in recent years, is currently on the agenda with the election campaign.
The fact that it has a registered population of about 1 million within its borders has made Esenyurt a very critical electoral district. Esenyurt is not only the most populous district of Istanbul but also of Turkey.
Just as the eyes of Turkey are on Istanbul in local elections, the eyes of Istanbul are also on Esenyurt.
From CHP to AKP, from AKP to CHP in Esenyurt
Esenyurt is not really the „stronghold“ of a political party.
Looking at the political history, we first encounter the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP).
Eşkinoz, once a village far from the center of Istanbul, grew over the years through immigration.
Esenyurt, which emerged as a result of this growth, became a municipality in 1989.
Gürbüz Çapan of the SHP won the municipal elections in the same year.
In 2004, the municipality transitioned from the Social Democrats to the Justice and Development Party (AKP), and in 2008, Esenyurt became a district.
With the rapid construction process in the district, especially in line with the construction policies of the 2010s, on the one hand, old residential buildings were converted into new apartments, and on the other hand, very tall buildings were built here.
Alongside this process, the population grew rapidly.
The population of Esenyturt, which was 150,000 in 2000, has now reached one million.
At the same time, the number of immigrants also increased rapidly.
Many immigrant groups, including not only Syrians but also Africans, moved here for various reasons, especially due to affordable housing.
Various immigrant circles concentrated in different neighborhoods, streets, and locations.
March 31, 2019, was a valuable date in the political history of Esenyurt. After 15 years, the district municipality transitioned from the AKP to the Republican People’s Party (CHP).
In this election, the CHP received 51.55% of the votes and the AKP received 45.93%.
In this result, the support of the CHP candidate by the Peoples‘ Democratic Party (HDP) is considered valuable.
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