Parliamentary Elections in Turkey
On the parliamentary elections in Turkey the vice chair of DIE LINKE, Tobias Pflüger, declares:
During election monitoring, at which nearly 50 representatives of DIE LINKE took part, we could observe an at times strong presence of police and military, sometimes even inside the election venues. At one time, a complete election committee – consisting of representatives of all competing parties - complained to us about the presence of armed forces inside election venues. Thus, the procedure was consistently severely restricted.
Bigger pre-election events in e.g. Kurdish areas were not possible before these elections. Media reports were by no means balanced, mainly because of President Erdogans’ intervention.
DIE LINKE welcomes the entry of the HDP into Turkish parliament considering the circumstances and the partly severe repressions. DIE LINKE congratulates the new HDP representatives on their election.
The numerous hints at election fraud and manipulation have to be pursued – also internationally. Merkel paying court to Erdogan right in the middle of the campaign was a massive intrusion in favour of his AKP.
DIE LINKE will closely monitor proceedings in Turkey and, together with democratic and left forces in Turky, like the HDP, keep on criticising any further extension towards an authoritarian presidential system.
DIE LINKE sharply criticises deals of the Federal government with Turkey regarding seclusion from refugees.