Erdogan's Interesting New Top Mayors: Istanbul's new mayor had been one of the lawyers defending Islamist arsonists in what is known as the "Sivas Case" where the Islamist killers set the Sivas hotel alight, while policemen allegedly stood by and watched as 37 people were killed.
The city's Islamist mayor refused to send firefighters to put out the blaze. The Islamist assault took eight hours, without any intervention from the police, military or fire department.
Ankara, Turkey's capital, has a population of about five million. Istanbul, the country's biggest city and commercial capital, has more than 15 million inhabitants. Turkey's top two cities have since 1994 been uninterruptedly run by elected mayors who feature various blends of religious conservatism, nationalism and Islamism.