Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party has lodged a complaint against the country’s Defence Ministry and other government bodies, claiming voter fraud in the Kurdish-majority provinces.
The complaint, filed with the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, centres on allegations that military personnel’s addresses were changed without their consent to influence local election outcomes.
The accusations, involving over 15,000 ‘ghost voters’ in Iğdır (Îdir), Kars (Qers) and Siirt (Sêrt), were bolstered by journalist Timur Soykan’s investigative reports, suggesting that these forced address changes were part of a broader strategy to sway election results in areas where the ruling party and opposition votes were closely contested.
Specifically, the deployment of military personnel under the guise of the 2024 Winter Exercises, coinciding with the election period, was highlighted as a tactic to register soldiers in key locations, notably Kars and Iğdır.
Local election boards rejected challenges to these suspicious voter registrations, justifying their decisions by citing the military personnel’s assignment to ensure election security. This has raised serious questions about the integrity of the electoral process and the lengths to which authorities may go to secure favourable outcomes.
The DEM Party’s complaint also references instances where military personnel, particularly lieutenants still in training and thus ineligible for reassignment, discovered their addresses had been changed without their knowledge. These actions, allegedly ordered by the Defence Ministry, have been criticised for undermining the democratic process and potentially constituting crimes of office abuse, official document forgery and electoral fraud.
Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit, Deputy Group Chairwoman for the DEM Party and MP for Kars, has raised alarms over the arrival of ‘ghost voters’ in Kars, purportedly registered by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). She reported that security forces, housed in high school dormitories despite not residing in the city, are poised to vote and potentially undermine the local electorate’s will.
Further intensifying concerns over electoral integrity, reports have also emerged from Iğdır, indicating a systematic effort to manipulate voter turnout in favour of the ruing Justice and Development Party (AKP)-Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) alliance. According to DEM Party Iğdır MP Yılmaz Hun, military personnel and police officers have been relocated to schools in Kurdish cities to cast their votes. Approximately 200 soldiers have been relocated to a hotel in Iğdır, exemplifying the scale of this operation.
Additionally, numerous military and police personnel have been accommodated in hostels and dormitories of various schools, leading to the temporary closure of several educational institutions, including Iğdır High School, Mev Anadolu High School and Social Sciences High School, until Tuesday.
The party has urged for a thorough investigation and the accountability of those involved, aiming to safeguard electoral integrity and public trust in democratic institutions.
