On Sunday more than 53,7 million of Turkish voters took to the polls to elect a new Parliament and through those general elections they changed the political landscape of Turkey.
“Recep Tayyip Erdogan wakes up today in front of a new Turkey”, says Co-chair of the European Green Party Monica Frassoni. “Today we see a Turkey where more and more people show to be against his attempts to accumulate power, limit freedom of expression and fight against critical media. This record turnout of 86% shows a clear attachment to a democratic way of expressing political choices which could result in in an enormous, historic progress of the country in becoming a stable and free point of reference in the area. The European Green family will continue to support the efforts from the political actors that are committed to defending civil and political rights. After such a strong result, we hope the next Turkish government will respect the rights and the requests of its people who clearly ask for a free, democratic and pluralistic Turkey. The EU should welcome this important result by creating a credible strategy for further strengthening of EU-Turkey relations, among other things to solve the ongoing Cyprus crisis and the increasing threat posed by the conflict in Syria and the situation in Iran”.
Co-chair of the European Green Party, Reinhard Bütikofer, says “We want to congratulate HDP for this extraordinary result and in particular Saruhan Oluç from the Turkish Green Party Yeşiller ve Sol Gelecek who has been elected as their first national MP within the HDP platform. This success strengthens the progressive forces within the Turkish Parliament and the European Green Party expresses strong support to their opposition to the conservative and authoritarian policies carried till now by the AKP”.
