Where the claim comes from

According to Son Dakika, journalist Mustafa Yavuz told TGRT Haber’s Taksim Meydanı programme that Muğla metropolitan mayor Ahmet Aras would join the AK Party in the coming weeks. He suggested another move could follow Aras’s announcement that he was leaving CHP and continuing as an independent. This is the journalist’s claim, not a reported completed accession.

The Ankara names mentioned

Yavuz named Satılmış Karakoç of Kalecik, Mehmet Doğanay of Güdül, Mürsel Yıldızkaya of Polatlı, İzzet Demircioğlu of Ayaş, Mustafa Koçak of Şereflikoçhisar, Adem Barış Aşkın of Elmadağ, Özer Kasap of Beypazarı and Ertunç Güngör of Nallıhan. Those eight names plus Aras account for the reference to nine mayors.

Why it matters to voters

Claims of party switches matter for local political alignments and voters’ expectations of representation. However, being named in a television discussion does not establish that a mayor has decided to move or changed party membership. The article reviewed does not contain confirmation from all the mayors or records of nine completed accessions. Readers should distinguish the claim from announcements by the politicians and parties concerned.