Practices casting doubts on election security have began with less than 40 days left before the upcoming referendum. Many ballot boxes in Kurdish towns have been moved to 'more central' locations before the April 16 referendum, just like they had been relocated in the last 2 elections. The decisions are seen as an important obstacle for the voters, and were taken after the request of gendarme commands and police headquarters in the Kurdish region. Accordingly, applications have been made to provincial and district election boards in Iğdır city center, Bitlis' Tatvan district, Muş's Bulanık district, Batman's Kozluk and Sason districts, Siirt's Kurtalan district, Mardin's Derik, Savur and Mazıdağı districts, Şırnak's İdil and Beytüşşebap districts, Hakkari's Şemdinli district and Ağrı's Patnos district in order to move and combine the ballot boxes in many villages.

BALLOT BOXES MOVED TO VILLAGES OF GUARDS

Applications to move and combine the ballot boxes in İdil's district center and villages have been accepted already. Turkish authorities also decided to move and combine the ballot boxes in 30 villages across Mardin's Derik district. The election board in Bitlis' Tatvan district has similarly decided to move the ballot boxes in 30 different villages with hundreds of voters to the villages of village guards and to the schools in the district center upon the request of the District Police Headquarters and District Gendarme Command. People in almost all of these villages voted for the HDP in recent elections.

TEMELLİ: THEY RESORT TO ALL SORTS OF DIRTY TRICKS

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Deputy Co-chair Sezai Temelli evaluated the decision to combine and relocate the ballot boxes, and noted that they have made their objections to the election boards in all relevant centers. Temelli stated that the decision violated the Election Law, saying; “The government panicked after realizing that the result of the referendum would not be 'Yes', so they began to resort to all sorts of dirty tricks. This is why they are doing this.”

Temelli stated that the relocation of ballot boxes for 'security' reasons is unacceptable, and expressed his hope for the acceptance of their objections.

Temelli pointed out that the HDP base says 'No' and said the following:

“AN ATTEMPT TO RESTRAIN THE WILL OF VOTERS”

HDP) Deputy Co-chair underlined that the ruling AKP, which has made election tricks a tradition against 'No' votes, is now aiming an act of terror through the relocation and combination of ballot boxes with the excuse of 'security.' He continued; “This is an attempt to restrain the will of voters. The legitimacy of the proposed constitutional changes was lost when our parliamentarians were taken prisoner during the parliamentary meetings. Another step for the delegitimization of the referendum is being taken. This is what we have been saying since the beginning.

“THEY WANT TO PREVENT VOTERS FROM GOING TO THE BALLOTS”

This is a regime change attempt that will implement a one-man's rule. This has no legitimacy. The government continued its efforts despite knowing this reality, and got panicked after seeing the will of the people very clearly. One of the government's methods is to seize voting rights in places where our 'No' votes are strong. They have launched an operation to combine and relocate ballot boxes in order to prevent voters from going to the ballot and to manipulate the votes.

“WE WILL UPSET THEIR PLANS AT THE BALLOT BOX”

Our response to this will of course be defending our rights. We will defend our rights at the Supreme Election Board and other platforms. We will make the necessary applications and follow up on this issue. We will not be a part to AKP's plots and we will upset their plans at the ballot box no matter what happens.”

“LOSING THE POWER WILL BE THEIR NIGHTMARE”

Temelli stated that holding an election under the state of emergency is another problem, and said “In a speech in December, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said 'We will not allow a referendum under the state of emergency. This will cause legitimacy problems.' Afterwards, they extended the state of emergency and decided to hold the referendum during this state of emergency. This reveals their fears and concerns. The legitimacy of the referendum, for which they contradicted what they had said, is of course debatable. Their only concern is to continue their political rule because they know that losing power will be their nightmare. This will lead to the prosecution of the crimes that they have been committing. With this fear and concern, they are attacking all the grounds of legitimacy. We are faced with a government that has become so aggressive that they have no problem seizing peoples' right to vote, which is all what people have today.”