Statement 03.04.2014- The local elections were held at Turkey on 30th March of 2014. Even though 3 days has passed since then, the results of election have still not been declared. The votes have been recounted many times because there have been requests for appeal at a lot of cities and towns.
The turmoil mainly caused from the worries around the widespread vote-rigging during the elections. The claims and the solid proofs regarding the state oppression on voters, lost-stolen votes, cutting of the power lines, finding of the previously prepared voting cards etc. are all signs of non-democratic handling of the elections.
As an example, there were power line failures at 35 cities in Turkey during the election night. These unusual power cuts have naturally been regarded by opposition as a proof of cheating at bullet boxes and changing of results in favour of the ruling party while the electricity is off. Energy and Natural Resources Minister has foolishly tried to explain this situation as “a cat has entered the power station which caused short-circuit on the lines”.
Furthermore, 10 people have died and 72 have injured during the incidents since elections.
Recently, the turmoil caused further reactions and street demonstrations, mostly at the Kurdish regions. Clashes have been reported between the police and the BDP supporters at many different locations.At the towns where the election result could not be changed in favour of AKP despite the vote-rigging, AKP is using the police violence and official appeal mechanisms as the last resort. In this context, the voters have been subjected to full-scale state violence because they stood after their decisions at Ceylanpinar, Birecik and Viransehir towns in Urfa, Kagizmanin Kars and Ahlat in Bitlis.
In Ceylanpinar, at least 1500 BDP votes have been found as burnt and people have protested this open violation of the democracy. As a response, the government has introduced a 30 days-long state of emergency in order to prevent the protests and a 15 years old kid has been wounded due to a gas bomb capsule thrown by police hitting his eye.
In the city of Agri, even though the BDP has been officially announced to win the elections, AKP has objected the results for 13 times and a final decision has not been declared so far. AKP does not want to acknowledge its defeat and repeatedly objects to the results. At the same time, BDP’s appeal applications have been rejected by the Supreme Election Committee (YSK).
As the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), we invite the AKP government to stop this oppression tactics and respect the will of people instead.
We invite the political bodies and the international organisations to stop ignoring the state violence and take a democratic stand against the corruption conducted during the elections in Turkey.
We urge the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe(OSCE), of which Turkey is also a member, to immediately assign a committee to investigate the allegations of corruption and decide whether the elections on 30th of March 2014 are held according to the democratic conventions.
Kurdistan National Congress
April 3, 2014
