News

Why Turkey’s elections matter

Mar 28 2014
Turkey
Source: 
Al-Monitor

More than 52 million Turks are expected to go to the ballot box on March 30. They will elect mayors and other local administrators, who will be in office for the next five years. In other words, this is not a general election that will change the structure of parliament and the government. That election is scheduled for July 2015. Yet, many see these local elections as extremely significant, because it has taken the form of an implicit referendum on the popularity of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Four important political forces will compete with each other from the outset:

HDP's Sırrı Süreyya Önder denies bargain with ruling AKP

Mar 27 2014
Turkey
Source: 
Hürriyet Daily News

The Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP), sister party of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) which is focused on the Kurdish issue, has denied allegations that they are in a bargain with the ruling Justice and Democracy Party (AKP) over voter support for some 10,000 job positions in the Istanbul municipality.

Sırrı Süreyya Önder, a member of Parliament and HDP mayoral candidate for the Istanbul municipality told Hürriyet Daily News there was no bargaining over anything with the AKP in Istanbul.

Ankara court grants stay of execution for government's Twitter ban

Mar 26 2014
Turkey
Source: 
Hürriyet Daily News

An Ankara administrative court has issued a stay of execution on an executive decision adopted by Turkey’s telecommunication’s authority (TİB) to block access to Twitter, as the ban entered its sixth day on March 26.

The government had blocked access to the social media network late March 21, hours after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğanvowed “to wipe out Twitter,” sparking global outcry.

Gov’t, opposition fearing voting fraud in Turkish elections

Mar 25 2014
Turkey
Source: 
Hürriyet Daily News

With just days to go before crucial local elections in Turkey, concerns about the credibility of ballots are being raised from varying parts of the political spectrum. 

The ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Ayşenur İslam and opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli have been the latest figures to raise questions on the issue. 
İslam, Turkey’s Family and Social Policy Minister, claimed that the way her party could be beaten on March 30 was “through cheating.” 

UN calls on Turkey to stop blocking Twitter

Mar 25 2014
Turkey
Source: 
Hürriyet Daily News

The United Nations on March 25 called on Turkey to stop blocking Twitter, saying Ankara could be breaching its international rights obligations by banning the social networking site.

"We are concerned that the blocking of access to Twitter on the 20th of March by the telecommunications agency may be incompatible with Turkey's international human rights obligations," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

Social media group volunteers to monitor election polls

Mar 25 2014
Turkey
Source: 
Today's Zaman
Volunteers who have come together through a group organized via social media will be monitoring voting stations in İstanbul during local elections that will take place on March 30.

Civil initiative organizations, including Sandık Başındayız (We Are At The Polls) and Oy ve Ötesi (Vote and Beyond) have trained 22,000 people so far to help monitor the elections and make sure no wrongdoing occurs.

AKP-Gulen strife worsens ahead of March 30 elections

Mar 18 2014
Turkey
Source: 
Al-Monitor

The Turkish elections to be held in less than two weeks, on March 30, are “local elections” in name only. There is currently such a hardened and ill-tempered political and social polarization in the country that the elections are being attributed the function of a general election — that is, a referendum to decide the fate of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey has not held local elections in such a tense and foul atmosphere since 1946, when the country adopted a multiparty system.

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