ANKARA, Oct 7 (Reuters) - The mayor of Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city and a bastion of its secular opposition, joined President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party (AKP) on Wednesday, giving it the mayoralty of a city it has never won at the ballot box.

Cemil Tugay, elected mayor in 2024 as a candidate of the Republican People's Party (CHP) before quitting in June, formally joined the AKP at a ceremony headed by Erdogan in Ankara. Tugay won the March 2024 election with 49% of the vote, against 37% for the AKP candidate.

The move is a significant symbolic gain for Erdogan's party in the western coastal city, long regarded as the heartland of Turkey's secular, social democratic opposition. It comes amid a crackdown on opposition-run municipalities in which dozens of mayors have been jailed pending trial in corruption cases that the opposition says are politically motivated.

(Reporting by Ece ToksabayEditing by Tuvan Gumrukcu)