by Reuters and Algemeiner Staff
MARCH 31, 2024
Election officials count ballots at a polling station during the local elections in Diyarbakir, Turkey March 31, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Sertac Kayar
Turks voted on Sunday in municipal elections focused on President Tayyip Erdogan’s bid to reclaim control of Istanbul from rival Ekrem Imamoglu, who aims to reassert the opposition as a political force after election defeats last year.
Polls closed at 5 p.m. (1400 GMT) after some violence across the country related to the election of neighborhood officials, or “muhtars,” with three people reported killed. Initial vote results are expected by early evening.
Istanbul Mayor Imamoglu dealt Erdogan and his AK Party the biggest electoral blow of two decades in power with his win in the 2019 vote. The president struck back in 2023 by securing re-election and a parliament majority with his nationalist allies.
Sunday’s results could reinforce Erdogan’s control of NATO-member Turkey, or signal change in the major emerging economy’s divided political landscape. An Imamoglu win would fuel expectations of him becoming a future national leader.
“Imamoglu is fine and does what he should as mayor, but he does not compare with Erdogan,” AK Party (AKP) voter and retiree Omer said, while a jubilant crowd chanted the president’s name as he emerged from a polling station in Istanbul.
Elsewhere in Istanbul, engineer Murat Ercan disapproved of Erdogan’s active role in campaigning for his party ahead of the elections, believing the president should be impartial.
“Ekrem Imamoglu is the sort of president we long for, with his constructive and smiling nature, embracing everyone,” Ercan, 60, said after casting his ballot in Istanbul.
In one incident in the southeast, groups clashed with guns, sticks and stones, killing one and wounding 11. In another, one muhtar candidate was killed and four people wounded in a fight, state-owned Anadolu news agency said.
It also said 16 people were hurt in a clash in Sanliurfa, while a muhtar was stabbed in Afyonkarahisar in the west. Demiroren reported separately that one person was shot dead and two wounded overnight in Bursa.
KURDISH, ISLAMIC VOTERS
In Istanbul, a city of 16 million people that drives Turkey’s economy, polls suggest a tight race as Imamoglu faces a challenge from AKP candidate Murat Kurum, a former minister.
The results are likely to be shaped in part by economic problems driven by near 70% inflation, and by Kurdish and Islamist voters weighing the government’s performance.
While the main prize for Erdogan is Istanbul, he also seeks to win back the capital Ankara. Both cities were won by the opposition in 2019 after being under the rule of his AKP and Islamist predecessors for the previous 25 years.
Erdogan’s prospects have been helped by the collapse of the opposition alliance that he defeated last year, though Imamoglu still appeals to voters beyond his main opposition Republican People’s Party.
Voters of the main pro-Kurdish party were crucial to Imamoglu’s 2019 success. Their DEM party this time is fielding its own candidate in Istanbul, but many Kurds are expected to put aside party loyalty and vote for him again.
In the mainly Kurdish southeast, DEM aims to reaffirm its strength after the state replaced pro-Kurdish mayors with state-appointed ‘trustees’ following previous elections over alleged militant ties.
“I wish for an end to the trustee system. This election is important for Turkey’s future and for listening to us: Kurds are always decisive,” said civil servant Elif Durgun, 32.
One factor working against Erdogan is a rise in support for the Islamist New Welfare Party due to its hardline stance against Israel over the Gaza conflict and dissatisfaction with the Islamist-rooted AKP’s handling of the economy.
Allegations of voter fraud in predominantly Kurdish SE mar Turkey’s local elections
ByTurkish Minute
March 31, 2024
Members of a pro-Kurdish party, locals and observers have claimed that a large number of law enforcement officers and soldiers who are not registered locally are voting illegally in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast in order to influence the elections in favor of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) candidates in the region.
Turkey is holding local elections today. Shortly after the start of voting, the issue of “transported voters” was brought up on social media, with a number of users and pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) officials posting videos that show long queues of non-local and presumed soldiers and police officers in front of voting stations in the country’s southeast.
Locals and DEM Party officials are seen in the videos reacting to the presumed soldiers and police officers and asking them why are they waiting to cast their vote there although they don’t live in that particular place.
Among the provinces where people made these allegations are Diyarbakır, Şırnak, Hakkari, Batman, Ağrı, Muş, Iğdır, Kars, Mardin, Şanlıurfa, Siirt and Tunceli.
Kamuran Tarhan, an MP from the DEM Party, shared videos on X showing the busses in which the police and soldiers were taken to Mardin’s Dargeçit district, calling on them not to usurp the will of the people in Dargeçit in favor of the AKP.
Journalist Deniz Babir also posted several videos showing police and soldiers getting out of busses and going to schools to cast their votes in eastern provinces, saying that this happened in the Halfeti district of Şanlıurfa; the Derik, Nusaybin and Savur districts of Mardin; the Kulp district of Diyarbakır; the Patnos district of Ağrı; the Eruh district of Siirt; the Cizre district of Şırnak; and the Yüksekova district of Hakkari.
“At the same time, these individuals [police and soldiers] are also registered in their respective provinces of residence. There is a major scam at play! There is fraud! There is theft!” the journalist said.
“… As always the dirty face of the state shows itself clearest in Kurdistan: masses of soldiers not registered locally are voting illegally, influencing the outcome in AKP’s favor,” Dutch freelance journalist and author Frederike Geerdink said on X.
In another video, DEM Party Ağrı MP Sırrı Sakık is seen explaining to a group of presumed police and soldiers coming to vote that they don’t live in Ağrı and therefore have no right to cast ballots in the city.
According to Jin News, the DEM Party’s Ağrı candidate, Hazal Aras, visited some of the schools in the city to observe the elections. She criticized the soldiers and police officers who came to vote illegally, causing some of them to leave.
DEM Party Şırnak MP Zeki İrmez also criticized the people transported to the city, saying they came to Şırnak for the first time in their lives just to vote for the AKP.
Another video depicted DEM Party MP Gülistan Kılıç asking a soldier in line where he came from, to which the soldier responded, “We came from outside the province.”
The Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) also leveled allegations of election fraud in favor of the AKP in DEM Party strongholds by means of police and soldiers brought from outside the cities.
“We stand against this years-long trustee regime and coup attempts targeting the Kurdish people’s will! The people will prevail, and those attempting to usurp their will will lose!” the party said in a tweet.
DEM Party spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan said at a news conference on Sunday that her party has so far discovered the transfer of 46,901 voters in 31 constituencies. “What can we call this but a coup?” Doğan said as she called on people to stand behind and protect their votes.
In the local elections of March 31, 2019, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the predecessor of the DEM Party, won 65 municipalities in Turkey’s eastern and southeastern regions. But due to the decisions of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Board (YSK) in six cases and the Interior Ministry, nearly 50 mayors have been removed from office or not allowed to assume office. The Turkish government has systematically appointed trustees to replace democratically elected mayors in the country’s Kurdish-majority regions.
ByTurkish Minute
March 31, 2024
Members of a pro-Kurdish party, locals and observers have claimed that a large number of law enforcement officers and soldiers who are not registered locally are voting illegally in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast in order to influence the elections in favor of the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) candidates in the region.
Turkey is holding local elections today. Shortly after the start of voting, the issue of “transported voters” was brought up on social media, with a number of users and pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) officials posting videos that show long queues of non-local and presumed soldiers and police officers in front of voting stations in the country’s southeast.
Locals and DEM Party officials are seen in the videos reacting to the presumed soldiers and police officers and asking them why are they waiting to cast their vote there although they don’t live in that particular place.
Among the provinces where people made these allegations are Diyarbakır, Şırnak, Hakkari, Batman, Ağrı, Muş, Iğdır, Kars, Mardin, Şanlıurfa, Siirt and Tunceli.
Kamuran Tarhan, an MP from the DEM Party, shared videos on X showing the busses in which the police and soldiers were taken to Mardin’s Dargeçit district, calling on them not to usurp the will of the people in Dargeçit in favor of the AKP.
Journalist Deniz Babir also posted several videos showing police and soldiers getting out of busses and going to schools to cast their votes in eastern provinces, saying that this happened in the Halfeti district of Şanlıurfa; the Derik, Nusaybin and Savur districts of Mardin; the Kulp district of Diyarbakır; the Patnos district of Ağrı; the Eruh district of Siirt; the Cizre district of Şırnak; and the Yüksekova district of Hakkari.
“At the same time, these individuals [police and soldiers] are also registered in their respective provinces of residence. There is a major scam at play! There is fraud! There is theft!” the journalist said.
“… As always the dirty face of the state shows itself clearest in Kurdistan: masses of soldiers not registered locally are voting illegally, influencing the outcome in AKP’s favor,” Dutch freelance journalist and author Frederike Geerdink said on X.
In another video, DEM Party Ağrı MP Sırrı Sakık is seen explaining to a group of presumed police and soldiers coming to vote that they don’t live in Ağrı and therefore have no right to cast ballots in the city.
According to Jin News, the DEM Party’s Ağrı candidate, Hazal Aras, visited some of the schools in the city to observe the elections. She criticized the soldiers and police officers who came to vote illegally, causing some of them to leave.
DEM Party Şırnak MP Zeki İrmez also criticized the people transported to the city, saying they came to Şırnak for the first time in their lives just to vote for the AKP.
Another video depicted DEM Party MP Gülistan Kılıç asking a soldier in line where he came from, to which the soldier responded, “We came from outside the province.”
The Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) also leveled allegations of election fraud in favor of the AKP in DEM Party strongholds by means of police and soldiers brought from outside the cities.
“We stand against this years-long trustee regime and coup attempts targeting the Kurdish people’s will! The people will prevail, and those attempting to usurp their will will lose!” the party said in a tweet.
DEM Party spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan said at a news conference on Sunday that her party has so far discovered the transfer of 46,901 voters in 31 constituencies. “What can we call this but a coup?” Doğan said as she called on people to stand behind and protect their votes.
In the local elections of March 31, 2019, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the predecessor of the DEM Party, won 65 municipalities in Turkey’s eastern and southeastern regions. But due to the decisions of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Board (YSK) in six cases and the Interior Ministry, nearly 50 mayors have been removed from office or not allowed to assume office. The Turkish government has systematically appointed trustees to replace democratically elected mayors in the country’s Kurdish-majority regions.
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