Turkey's opposition Republican People's Party pledged to win the upcoming municipal elections in Istanbul and Ankara and work to "change the faces of the two cities forever in five years".
"Why do we lose (the elections in Istanbul and Ankara)?" Asked party leader Kamal Kilicardaroglu in an interview with the daily Hurriyet, adding: "We will win, we will all do it together.
Turkey is holding local elections on March 31, 2019 in 81 provinces, but the competition will be intense in the capital Ankara, as well as Istanbul, Turkey's largest urban center, which began the story of the rise of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 1994 as mayor of the city.
Istanbul, which has a population of 15 million, has almost a sixth of the electorate, and is therefore the most important goal for all political parties. "Whoever wins in Istanbul actually wins Turkey," observers say.
"We will complete the urbanization process in Istanbul in the shortest time, according to scientific needs, and it will be a city full of green spaces, as well as schools and hospitals that are resistant to earthquakes," Kilichdaroglu said.
He stressed that the city, which was the capital of three major civilizations, "deserves better protection of its historic buildings than the rise of unregulated high-rise buildings in the last few years."
He added: "We will reveal the historical background of the city with all its magnificence, and living in Istanbul will be fun and not a problem for anyone."
"Ankara is a very small village in Anatolia, and now it is a modern and vast city," Kilicdaroglu said.
The municipal elections next year come amid an escalating economic crisis in Turkey, with the local currency losing about 40 percent in recent months, threatening to pull the rug out from under Erdogan's ruling AK Party in some municipalities.
