Advertisement
Turkey

Bosporus bridge to partly shut after Istanbul vote – state-run agency

Disruption to traffic will be kept to a minimum, Anadolu reported.

Advertisement

A major bridge spanning the Bosporus in Istanbul will partly close for drainage and resurfacing work, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news wire reported.

The announcement was made the day after Istanbul’s mayoral elections, won by opposition candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu by almost 800,000 votes in the city of 15 million people.

Turkey’s government has delayed painful economic measures including power price hikes during 2019 as it battled to keep control of major cities in local elections. It lost Ankara, the capital, in an initial vote on March 31, and failed to take Izmir, the country’s third-largest city. The Istanbul election was re-run after the elections board agreed with the governing party that irregularities occurred.

Two lanes of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge, known as the second Bosporus bridge, will be shut from Thursday until Aug. 17, Anadolu reported. There are three road bridges spanning the Bosporus with the first bridge, closest to downtown Istanbul, barred to large freight vehicles.

Disruption to traffic will be kept to a minimum, Anadolu reported.

Analysts are looking for signs that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling party will cooperate with İmamoğlu, who represents the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) during his tenure as head of Turkey’s biggest city and its economic hub. Some speculate that his Justice and Development Party (AKP) will seek to undermine İmamoğlu agenda.

Source: Ahval

Advertisement
Advertisement

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button