conservative region. The mayor of Bafra is Hamit Kiliç from the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The governor of Samsun Province is Mustafa Demir who is also a member of the AKP. Bafra is considered a stronghold of the party and consistently supports the candidacy of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for Prime Minister and President. In 2018, 51.8% of voters in Bafra cast ballots for the AKP. This figure declined however from a peak performance in 2015 when 61.9% of residents voted for the AKP. Economy Bafra's economy has historically been driven by the growth and export of tobacco. The region's tobacco is known to be very low nicotine, small, red, light red colored, fine-grained, fine-grained, elastic, high-smoked, sweet, and aromatic. Foreign cigarette manufacturers were said to desire the tobacco grown on the Bafra Plain in order to improve the quality of their products. Bafra tobacco was long sought as the highest quality of natural tobacco in the world. Due to a variety of factors including agricultural mismanagement, reduced demand, logistical challenges and innovation in tobacco growth elsewhere in the world has led to a decline in tobacco exports from Bafra. This has had a significant adverse effect on the local population and contributed to persistently high unemployment and out-migration among working age people in the region. This crisis was further exacerbated by the Turkish government's shutdown of TEKEL. Today tobacco production in the region is negligible with most former farms now growing other products. Cuisine İçli Pide: is Bafra's most famous dish. Colloquially known as Pide, this is a popular and savory dish known for its origins in and around Samsun. Nokul: is a type of puff pastry. Nokul is a type of pastry eaten in Turkey and Bulgaria with variations. Nokul is sometimes served hot as an appetizer instead of bread. It consists of a rolled sheet of yeast dough onto which feta-style white cheese, walnut or poppy seed is sprinkled over a thin coat of butter. The dough is then rolled, cut into individual portions, and baked. Turkish delight with Cream: Residents of Bafra use a special cream made from buffalo milk. This is only available during certain months of the year. Dondurma: A special type of sticky, yellow vanilla ice cream is produced in Bafra and is regionally popular. The ice cream is pounded and produced in a fashion that takes several hours. Festivals Karadede Fair: A