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There is a new American interest in Turkish domestic politics, which is showing itself more than usual, focusing on the coming three elections in Turkey, with a particular interest shown in the mayoral election in Turkey’s largest city: Istanbul.

It is obvious the Gezi Park protests and the government’s methods in suppressing them have agitated the already existing interest in Turkish politics. Those interested in Turkey in DC are still trying to understand the social and political dynamics behind Gezi, asking questions about how that could be reflected in the ballot box and the change in the level of pressure on Turkish media before and after Gezi.

The result of local elections to be held on March 30, 2014 is a matter of interest in that regard, with particular focus on Istanbul.

Istanbul elections have been one of the most asked questions to the CHP leader in DC, together with relations with Israel. Americans are trying to understand whether the CHP will be able to get Istanbul from AK Parti or seriously close the gap, thinking it could change the political atmosphere in Turkey.

That is one of the reasons that interest is being shown to the Turkish opposition, together with Gezi.

There are also questions who will be the next president of Turkey and what if Erdogan replaces President Abdullah Gül in August 2014, what would Gül do, whether he would accept to be a low profile prime minister as Erdogan would like to see, how will that effect Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy line and how could that change the composition of the next parliament in the general elections planned to take place in 2015.

The questions also focused on Turkish foreign policy in the light of the U.S. interests.

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Source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/istanbul-mayoral-race-caught-on-washington-radar.aspx?pageID=238&nID=59024&NewsCatID=409

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Istanbul is as big as  Greece+Bulgaria in population and bigger than those two countries together in economy.

AKP came to power after winning the elections in Istanbul. Erdogan was the mayor of Istanbul before become the PM. 

 Current mayor from AKP

 Mustafa Sarigul, who will be the candidate from CHP