A panel titled “Current Developments and Elections in Turkey” was organized by Day-Mer with guest speakers who evaluated the latest situation in the upcoming elections in Turkey.
The panel was held in London, with the participation of Journalist-Author Faik Bulut and Journalist-Author Mustafa Yalçıner as speakers. There was great interest in the panel held by the Turkish and Kurdish Community Solidarity Centre (DAY-MER) at the London Community Centre on Saturday, April 22.
Bulut started his speech by drawing attention to the unequal situation between the opposition and the government in terms of election work and security. Bulut said that ‘the opposition is faced with a structure that uses the power of law enforcement and bureaucracy in the form of “AKP’s army, AKP’s police and governor”, where the party and the state are intertwined.’
Adding that the opposition should be prepared for all kinds of provocations and “negative surprises” that may come as well as expressing some concerns he had about the handover process in case the current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lost the elections.
Yalçıner pointed out that this election different from the previous ones has been approached, which will affect the fate of the country, “This is not a normal election.”
Emphasizing that although the opposition seems to be ahead in the presidential election, nothing is certain yet, Yalçıner pointed out that there are dangers in the upcoming period.
After the speeches of Faik Bulut and Mustafa Yalçıner, Onur Kartal, the British Election Coordination representative of the Labour and Freedom Alliance, said that the voter turnout rate in the UK was 40 per cent in the previous general elections, and gave information about the electoral work they carried out to increase this rate and urging voters to use their votes.