New developments .. Erdogan meets Bilderm and the Election Commission re-sorting 16 districts in Istanbul

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has begun a meeting with the party's candidate for mayor of Istanbul, Ben Ali Yildirm, in parallel with the start of a recount in a number of districts in Istanbul.

The meeting, which was described by Turkish media as inspiring a number of ministers and officials of the party to discuss the results of the local elections in Turkey on Sunday, where the People's Alliance of the Justice and Development Party and the National Movement Party, made significant progress, despite losing to a number of important municipalities.

Re-sorting
The Anatolia news agency reported that the Turkish authorities have begun the recounting of invalid votes in 16 districts and all votes in one district in Istanbul based on appeals filed by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) following the local elections held on Sunday.

According to the agency, the Electoral Commission in the 17 districts has begun recounting the votes following appeals by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and by a decision of the Supreme Elections Commission.

Irresponsible behavior
While the election commission continues to re-count in a number of constituencies, AK Party candidate Ben Ali Yildirm warned his opponent, the Republican People's Party candidate Akram Emamoglu, that acting irresponsibly before deciding on objections would raise tension in society and harm the country and the people.

Yildirm stressed that receiving congratulations and contacts from foreign mayors and trying to exert international pressure and request letters of support from foreign countries angered the Turkish people.

In an attempt to pre-empt any developments that may result from the recount, the opposition candidate in Istanbul urged the SCER on Wednesday to confirm his victory as mayor of the city.

He called on the committee to "do its job" and declared it mayor of Istanbul and accused the AKP of not respecting the will of the city's residents.

"We want justice, we demand our authorization from the Supreme Elections Commission, which announced the figures, as mayor elected to this city ... The world is watching us, the world is watching the elections of this city," he told reporters.

Earlier, Ben Ali Yildirm said Imam Oglu was ahead of 25,000 votes (before the gap narrowed later), a relatively small margin in a city of 15 million people.