Turkey’s Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim KALIN speaks to U.S. press about election date

While the discussions about postponing the elections after the earthquake disaster that overwhelmed Turkey were continuing, Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim KALIN made important statements to CNN International.

As Turkey tries to heal the wounds of the earthquake disaster, discussions about the election date are also ongoing. After the Kahramanmaraş-based earthquakes in which tens of thousands of people lost their lives, discussions about postponing the elections scheduled for May 14 have been on the agenda.

REACTION FROM OPPOSITION

AKP officials had previously argued in a statement to Reuters that there should be a postponement and that November was reasonable. Bulent ARINC, one of the founders of the AKP, had said “The elections should be postponed urgently so that the state bureaucracy focuses on salving the wounds of our citizens”, causing strong reactions.

On the other hand, CHP (opposition) Chairman had commented, ”Since there is no war, the election cannot be postponed.”

POSTPONEMENT PUT ASIDE

A senior government official told the UK-based news agency Reuters that “The issue of postponement to November had been shelved with the assessments,” adding that the view of holding the election on June 18 was gaining weight.

A statement drawing attention to the issue came from Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim KALIN who was a guest on CNN International’s Becky Anderson’s program. He said, ”Unless there is a political agreement in the opposite direction in the coming days, the trend is that the election will be held on time.”

 “At the moment, it looks like it will happen on May 14”, KALIN said.