On Friday, journalist Nevşin Mengü revealed the alleged involvement of local authorities in the Kurdish-majority eastern Turkish province of Ağrı (Agirî) in a campaign to influence the upcoming local elections.
Mengü reported that officials stationed in the Gürbulak (Gurcîbilax) village of Doğubayazıt (Bazîd), near the Iranian border, were allegedly pressured to move their registered residence addresses to the centre of Ağrı. These actions are allegedly aimed at preventing the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) from winning the region.
According to civil servants who contacted the journalist, they have faced relentless pressure from local authorities to change their official home addresses. The alleged coercion included threats of punishment for those who refused to comply.
“The district governor told all 500 staff to change their addresses, and those who did not would be accepted from the other side and there would be consequences,” one civil servant revealed.
“It was also said that all customs personnel would be assigned to the same ballot boxes and the votes would be checked one by one,” Mengü said.
The officials who contacted Mengü explained the alleged coercion, saying that all the votes in Doğubayazıt usually go to the HDP and that government officials consider the other votes in the region to be worthless. In the centre of Ağrı, on the other hand, the situation is neck-and-neck. As a result, all 500 employees were ordered to change their official address.
