Winning Mersin means rising above ethnic politics

Mersin is part of the Levant. It looks across the Mediterranean to Beirut and not over its shoulder to Istanbul. And like Beirut, Mersin’s neighbourhoods are pockets of cultural and ethnic diversity. There are Kurds, Arab Alawites, and Yörük nomads – each group has their own political preference so different wards vote uniformly but for different parties. The district of Akdeniz – which we could term Mersin’s “downtown” – has been run by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) for the past five years, the result of the post-1990 Kurdish migration and village evacuation from the countryside further east. And yet, for all its complex ethnic makeup, Mersin has been free of  overt ethnic tension. Residents on the whole see the city’s heterogeneity as an advantage not a problem; in their view, it makes Mersin all the richer. So in the run-up to the local elections, as well, most mayoral candidates are targeting the city’s entire population in their messages.  
The exception is the BDP. Their  share of the vote is nearly 20% in the city center; in the 1999 elections, it came very close to winning the mayoral race, due to votes being split among five different parties. In Mersin province as a whole, the BDP receives approximately 10% of the vote. A new law has stipulated that the mayor will be elected by voters from the entire province of Mersin which eliminates the BDP’s chance of winning this time. However, the BDP is tipped to retake the large Akdeniz district. From our conversation it was striking that BDP’s candidates for Mersin are almost entirely focused on Kurdish issues and do not really think of themselves as a national party. They have no ready answer to the question, “You need to get votes from non-Kurdish voters in order to win the election in Mersin; what pledges are you making to such voters?”
 
Republican Peoples Party (CHP) politician Macit Özcan, who has been Mayor of the Greater Mersin Municipality for 15 years, is again a candidate for this election.,Özcan may not be the only Turkish mayor interested in art and culture but he does stand out as that little bit unconventional.  Even his campaign posters show a bit of wit. There is one of himself swimming in the sea off the coast of Mersin (which has recently been cleaned up through a new water treatment plant). Özcan takes great pains to employ an inclusive political discourse capable of winning votes from the city’s traditional CHP base but also from Arab Alawites, and Kurds. 
Özcan has stated that the CHP succeeds in creating a balance between Kurds and Turks in Mersin, and that his primary goal is to preserve the city’s social fabric. The National Action Party (MHP) candidate for Mersin is Burhanettin Kocamaz, who has been Mayor of Tarsus – the largest district in Mersin – for 15 years. Kocamaz comes from the conservative wing of the MHP and hopes to lure disillusioned government supporters as well as his own base. Kocamaz points to unemployment as the most pressing issue in Mersin and that municipal government must create incentives to attract investment. Increase the number of jobs and you deal with Mersin’s other problem – a rise in the rate of crime, he says.  and you bring down the other. MHP is strong in the rural districts of Mersin – and that Kocamaz has been a success as Mayor of Tarsus – so he is a realistic challenger to the CHP. Both parties are expected to receive approximately 30-40% of the vote in Mersin. Given the recent allegations of corruption against the national party, it appears that it will be difficult for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to squeeze through the middle.    

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