Days before the 24 June elections, the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) board launched the interim report. The organization criticized the language used by Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader and President Erdoğan towards other candidates while accusing them of “terrorism.” The report further expressed the environment for elections under the State of Emergency is worrying.
The board pointed out the shutdown media institutions and arrested journalists, stating that “the Turkish media is dominated by pro-government institutions as well as those bound to public tenders.” Investigations against social media users were also mentioned in the report. The data presented in the report involves the ban on rallies and press statements in five provinces.
The interim report of OSCE did not mention the attacks against the electoral booths, party buildings within the electoral campaigns of opposition parties People’s Democratic Party (HDP), Good Party and the Republican People’s Party (CHP); as well as other reports prepared on the unfairness in the time assigned to various political parties on public and private TV channels for their electoral campaigns. The report further lacked the worry induced by the application to move ballot boxes on the election day.
Reacting against the report, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that the report “involved some political comments which do not correspond to the reality.”
18.06.2018
evrensel.net