Call from 5 Organizations: A Democratic, Fair and Clean Election without a State of Emergency

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Five organizations, namely Union for Democracy, Dialogue Group, Equity and Justice Platform, Democracy First and Citizen Initiative have held a joint press conference and expressed their call for "a democratic, fair and clean election without a state of emergency."

Among those who attended the meeting held at the Chamber of Mechanical Engineers in İstanbul were Nesrin Nas, Levent Tüzel, Nurten Ertuğrul, Binnaz Toprak, Oya Baydar, Gençay Gürsoy, Ayşenur Arslan, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Mehmet Emin Adıyaman and Republican People's Party (CHP) MP Oğuz Kaan Salıcı.

In the joint statement read by Oya Baydar, the bill of law foreseeing an election alliance between political parties has been objected to and it has been declared that "The demand and call of the civil society is a democratic union of forces."

"An Alliance of Election Safety"

Nesrin Nas (Citizen Initiative) has addressed the importance of an alliance of election safety and the signature of a joint political ethics agreement by all political parties.

Nas stated, "June 7 and April 16 are examples of a situation where the opposition could act together without forming an alliance. The government is attempting to bring the opposition into such a state that it cannot come together. It is the opposition itself which will thwart this attempt."

Nurten Ertuğrul (Equity and Justice Platform) has drawn attention to the necessity for everyone to engage in a collaboration around an agreement of principles.

"Abolish the State of Emergency, Withdraw the Bill of Law"

Binnaz Toprak (Dialogue Group) has made a call for an election without state of emergency, withdrawal of the bill of law foreseeing election alliance between political parties, a pre-election period in a free atmosphere and a consistency between the election results coming in and going out of the ballot box.

Levent Tüzel (Union for Democracy) stated, "In the face of the imposition of those who have abolished the [electoral] threshold for the ones who act with them and retained the threshold for the opposition forces outside themselves, we have to come together for an election without a state of emergency and raise our voices for election safety."

"Opposition Parties Should Think About What They Can Do"

The main opposition party CHP MP Oğuz Kaan Salıcı has stated that they are ready to meet with all political parties about election safety.

HDP MP Mehmet Emin Adıyaman has reminded that he is a member of the Constitution Commission where this bill of law is discussed and added, "We will argue but we know that this law will be passed with the majority of Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). We should not hold the expectation that the law will be withdrawn but the opposition parties should think once again about what can be done on democratic and common grounds." (BK/SD)