IZMIR, Turkiye: More than 1,000 protesters gathered in Turkish opposition stronghold Izmir on Wednesday, angered by the defection of the city’s mayor to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AKP. The move was a huge symbolic victory for the Turkish leader, who has long wanted to control the secular resort city of 4.5 million people on Turkiye’s Aegean coast which has been held by the opposition for nearly 30 years. Mayor Cemil Tugay’s decision to join the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development
