Local elections in Turkey: Erdogan's AKP hopes for victory in Istanbul. Pro-Kurdish party is likely to decide the race: local elections are underway in Turkey City councils, provincial councils and mayors: voting in Turkey is a test of mood for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan's government has been cracking down on Kurdish parties since the peace process to end the decades-long uprising by the banned PKK failed in 2015. Many Kurdish voters are therefore still torn and undecided, says Yüksel Genc from the Samer opinion research institute.