“When they vote, most of them are focused to the money”

On November 29, 1987, the right to vote for people living outside Turkey has started. In the last 30 years, Turkey has held 10 parliamentary elections, 3 referendums, and one presidential election. In the last elections in 2014, it was seen that people living abroad very rarely went to vote.

Voting for the 2023 parliamentary and presidential elections outside Turkey began on April 27.

There are about 1.5 million voters in Germany, whose votes will play an important role in the election results.

One of them is Aryan. He is a Kurdish voter who has lived in Germany for almost 20 years.

We talked to him about why he voted and what Turkish citizens in Germany look for when they go to vote.

Aryan stated that in these elections the citizens there want to give their votes to the current government.

At the time of voting, people are mostly thinking about money. For example, he says that when I go to Turkey, I will exchange my euros for Turkish money, if one euro is equal with 20 turkish lira. Therefore, when they see the rising euro, they want to vote for them.

Aryan said that what they cannot do in Germany, they can do 20 times in Turkey.

Aryan does not want citizens living abroad to be allowed to vote.

Normally we live on the fat of the land in Germany. For example, when we go to school, the government even pays for our pencils and notebooks. But now in Turkey, students and their families pay their own money to study and go to school. The votes here have a big impact on this opposition. That’s why I don’t want people who live here to vote.

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) describes voting from another country as:

“There are regulations for voters who live abroad both permanently and temporarily. These regulations let us know that those people have the right to vote.”

It is written in Article 67 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey,

“Every person who is a citizen of Turkey, according to the conditions defined in the law, has the right to vote, to be elected, independently or within a political party, and to participate in the referendum.”

Until now, 797 thousand and 841 foreign voters have voted in the election this year.

According to the information stated by the Supreme Electoral Board, from 6:30 p.m., 737 thousand 439 foreign voters cast their votes at foreign missions, 60 thousand 402 voters at the borders, a total of 797 thousand 841 voters. data

Until May 9, voting abroad will continue.

This news was translated by Yonca Sarsilmaz

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