YSK rejects CHP's objection to AKP

The Supreme Election Council (YSK) has rejected the application filed by the CHP requesting a ban on a campaign commercial prepared by the AKP for the Local Administration General Elections to be held on Sunday, March 31, due to its inclusion of the "call to prayer" and the "Turkish flag."

CHP's YSK Representative Mehmet Hadimi Yakupoğlu requested in the petition he submitted to the Council that the commercial, which was broadcast by the AKP on March 4, be banned. 

The petition stated that the 1.45-minute campaign commercial prepared by the AKP for the elections features the sound of the call to prayer between the 0.03 and 0.12-second marks, and that the Turkish flag is used as a main theme on a uniform throughout the entire commercial. 

A SIMILAR COMMERCIAL WAS BANNED IN 2014

The petition noted that Law No. 298 on the Basic Provisions of Elections and Voter Registers stipulates that the Turkish flag and religious expressions cannot be used in election propaganda, and recalled that a similar commercial was banned in 2014. 

The petition requested that "a decision be made to ban and remove from broadcast the political commercial using the Turkish flag and the call to prayer on television, radio, and the internet." The YSK, having reviewed the application, rejected the request.