There was a healthy turnout for the breakfast meeting
The leaders of Turkey’s main opposition party in Britain have called on expat voters not to split the left wing vote.
Suna Akartuna, the recently elected leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the UK, said the upcoming Turkish election on 7 June would be a turning point.
She said: “There is a general election approach. We are aware of the importance of this election. That is why we expect support for a more liveable Turkey from all our citizens. This will be the first time in our history that expatriates will vote.
CHP UK leader Suna Akartuna
“We are not optimistic about Turkey’s course of travel. The time has come to say ‘stop’. That is why I am calling on everyone, without discrimination, not to split the vote. I believe we will be much stronger together.”
The breakfast meeting in North London then reverted to a question-answer format and there was intense criticism of a recent gun attack on the party building of the pro-Kurdish HDP, a rival to the CHP on the left.
On this, the CHP UK leader said: “We can see that these elections are not being held under normal conditions and that there are constant provocations by certain circles. We want election activities to be conducted in peace and comfort.
“We strongly condemn the attack on the HDP headquarters. We will be on the unifying side, not the dividing one. We will embrace everyone as the CHP union.”
Ms Akartuna said the UK branch of her party had done some “very good work” with the support of CHP supporters, despite a limited budget, and that she had not forgotten the promises she made when she was elected six weeks ago.
She called for more volunteers to “take to the field together”.
Ms Akartuna added that the CHP would be holding a rally in the German town of Düsseldorf on 25 April and that party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu would take part. She said everyone with the means should try and attend the rally.