AKP's Çelik makes statement regarding events in Van
AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik held a press conference while the Central Executive Board meeting was ongoing. Çelik responded to a question regarding the decision by the Supreme Election Council (YSK) to award the Van mayoral seat, won by the DEM Party in the local elections, to the AKP candidate.
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The eligibility of DEM Party candidate Abdullah Zeydan, who won the Van Metropolitan Municipality mayoral race by a large margin, was revoked two days before the election following an application by the Ministry of Justice.
The YSK awarded the certificate of election to the AKP candidate, Abdullah Arvas, who finished second in the election with a 130,000-vote deficit.
Çelik evaluated the developments in Van as follows:
"CITIES ARE BEING BURNED AND DESTROYED"
In response to a question about the unrest in the streets following the shift of the mayoral election results in Van from the DEM Party to the AK Party, Çelik said, "The Provincial Election Board took this decision because the necessary conditions were not met. This is not an area that the political sphere can intervene in. The Provincial Election Board and subsequently the Supreme Election Council are the authorized bodies here. If they are going to object, the objection mechanisms are clear.
The interesting part is this, of course. People say, 'Let us show our democratic reaction.' Then cities start being burned and destroyed. And there are attacks on the police. Everyone has the right to show democratic reaction.
Protesting democratically and gathering are everyone's rights. But turning this into acts of violence has no place in a democracy. There is no connection between this and attacking police forces. The channels for objection within the system are clear. Everyone makes their objection. The final decision is already made by the YSK," he said.