*Updated at 15:07 (CET)
This weekend, Turkey’s largest city Istanbul sees two historic rallies. On Saturday, opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu will rally with his Nation Alliance partners on the Asian side of the city, and on Sunday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will rally with his People’s Alliance partners at the Atatürk Airport National Garden on the European side. Istanbul’s traffic, public transportation and security forces will be coordinated according to these two rallies. The squares chosen by the two rivals for the most important pre-election rallies have symbolic significance.
Green Left Party holds election rally in Istanbul
The Green Left Party is also holding an election rally in Istanbul on Saturday, with attendees carrying banners and posters with slogans such as “We won’t make you president”. Police initially refused to let in the posters and banners featuring a photo of Kurdish singer Cihan Aymaz, who was killed last week, but they relented after pressure from the crowd.
The Green Left Party parliamentary candidate Cengiz Çiçek addressed the crowd at the rally, stating that the election was a struggle between Alevi minorities fighting for equal citizenship and religion-mongers, as well as a struggle of Kurds fighting against Erdoğan, who was in pursuit of a country without Kurds.
Turkish Election Board reports ballot fraud in Australia
The Turkish Election Board has filed a criminal complaint after discovering that one of the unopened ballots sent to Sydney, Australia for the Turkish elections had been tampered with.
The ballot had a vote cast for the ruling Justice and Development Party, despite being unopened before it was sent.
Representatives from political parties who were present when the discovery was made have requested that the board investigate the incident and take legal action. The Election Board has unanimously agreed to investigate and file a criminal complaint with the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office. The incident is seen as a serious violation of election laws and could lead to further scrutiny of the voting process for the upcoming Turkish elections.
Government and opposition compete for crowds in massive Istanbul rallies
Kılıçdaroğlu is preparing to take the stage at Maltepe Square, the last stop of his 25-day march for justice from Ankara to Istanbul in 2017. Kılıçdaroğlu walked the last kilometre alone in 2017, this time he will take the stage with his alliance partners and companions.
The 2017 Justice March, led by Kılıçdaroğlu, was a massive civilian march from the capital city of Ankara to Istanbul, with the participation of various politicians and groups. Kılıçdaroğlu decided to march after a CHP legislator was sentenced to 25 years in prison for giving the media footage of trucks belonging to the National Intelligence Organisation (MİT) that were destined for rebel groups in Syria.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will hold its “rally of the century” not in the square it usually prefers, but this time in Atatürk Airport National Garden, a politically symbolic space since Erdoğan constructed the nation’s gardens across Turkey as part of an AKP project and chose to name them “nation’s garden” instead of “city garden” or “city park”.
AKP buys high-follower social media accounts, says CHP
Erdoğan Toprak, the coordinator chief advisor of Kılıçdaroğlu, has claimed that the AKP has paid large amounts of money to purchase high-follower Twitter and Instagram accounts via an agency. The move has been seen as an attempt to spread false information and intimidate opposition voices ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections. Toprak also claimed that the AKP has been preparing to create fear and disinformation through social media in the run-up to the elections, including working with Russian and Hungarian hackers.
According to Diken, the agency in question is attempting to purchase high-follower accounts associated with opposition parties in order to circulate a specific video, though the contents of the video and when it is intended to be circulated remain unknown.
Danish MP blocked from entering Turkey as an election observer
Turkish authorities have been accused of hindering the work of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), an election observer group, by blocking entry to their members.
Danish MP Soren Sondergaard is one such person who was barred from entering Turkey due to his previous visit to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Sondergaard, a member of the Red-Green Alliance, said that the blocking was an attempt by Turkey to control the elections and cast a shadow over them. The OSCE previously prepared a report on their visit to Turkey in late April, with concerns being raised over the security and fairness of the election process.
Journalist reports on Erdogan’s “lacklustre rally” in Kurdish city
Journalist Ruşen Takva took to social media to report on Turkish President Erdoğan’s pre-election rally in the Kurdish-majority southeastern city of Van (Wan) on Friday. Takva observed a heavy police presence in the area, with officers brought in from as far away as Urla and Batman. He also noted that the street where Erdoğan’s convoy passed was closed to the public an hour before his arrival, and some citizens who came to express their grievances were not allowed into the rally. Takva described the event as the most lacklustre AKP rally in Van since the party came to power in 2002, with only 50,000 attendees despite the party’s strong showing in the last local elections.
Der Spiegel profiles Kılıçdaroğlu: The man who could end Erdoğan’s presidency
Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine profiled Kılıçdaroğlu as “the man Erdoğan should fear” on Friday. The 74-year-old politician is described as being underestimated and having a good chance of ending President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s presidency.
Kılıçdaroğlu told the magazine that Erdoğan has “lost the ability to govern properly.” Kılıçdaroğlu also explained his Nation Alliance’s plan to transition to a strengthened parliamentary system.
He said that even those who think differently than the opposition alliance wanted democracy. “Who would protect a leader with a stick in his hand?”
If elected, Kılıçdaroğlu’s biggest task would be to bring peace and tranquillity to society, according to the magazine.
