The Erzincan Provincial Gendarmerie Command has asked the provincial electoral board to reduce the number of polling stations and transfer ballot boxes to central locations in the province ahead of the Nov. 1 general election, despite the fact that no violence has occurred in the province recently.
The Cumhuriyet daily reported on Wednesday that the gendarmerie command made the request even though Erzincan province has not seen any recent clashes between the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and security forces, unlike in neighboring provinces.
The gendarmerie drew attention to 94 instances of PKK activities in Erzincan in a very broad timeframe, mentioning attacks that have taken place between 1989 and 2015. These incidents did not include any killings of police officers but instead comprise arson attacks, sabotage and robbery by the PKK, as well as the seizure of weapons and ammunition. The report also says that in the villages in Erzincan from where the board has asked for ballot boxes to be relocated, most locals voted for the Republican People's Party (CHP) on June 7.
Erzincan has not witnessed any violence since July 22, when the PKK broke its three-year cease-fire and killed two police officers in retaliation for a deadly blast in July 20, subsequently blamed on the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which claimed 34 lives. Around 140 members of the security forces have lost their lives in the eastern and southeastern provinces since then in clashes with the PKK, which is reported to have lost more than 2,000 militants.
As many as 150 areas in 15 predominantly Kurdish provinces were recently declared “special security zones” by governors' offices.
Local provincial boards in the eastern and southeastern provinces have decided to relocate polling stations due to a perceived lack of security, which has been decried by opposition parties who accuse the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of attempting to push the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) below the 10 percent election threshold in the Nov. 1 election.
If the Supreme Election Board (YSK) approves the requests to relocate polling stations, as many as 400,000 voters could face much greater difficulty in casting their ballots in the Nov. 1 general election.
Fuente: http://www.todayszaman.com/national_gendarmerie-asks-for-fewer-more-secu...
