MAINZ, Germany – The Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) have slammed Turkey’s general elections as unfair, raising concerns about perishing democracy.
The OSCE said in a statement this week that Turkey's snap elections on Sunday were marred by media crackdowns, violence and other security concerns.
Meanwhile, representatives of PACE went further and denounced the entire election as "unfair."
"Unfortunately, the campaign for these elections was characterized by unfairness and, to a serious degree, fear," said Andreas Gross, a Swiss national heading the PACE delegation.
Ignacio Sanchez Amor, special coordinator and leader of the OSCE observer mission in Turkey, added: “While Turkish citizens could choose between genuine and strong political alternatives in this highly polarized election, the rapidly diminishing choice of media outlets, and restrictions on freedom of expression in general, impacted the process and remain serious concerns.”
In August, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for early elections after no party could form a government after polls in June. The time between both elections was characterized by bomb attacks against rallies of the pro-Kurdish HDP party, curfews in Turkey’s Kurdish southeast and Turkish military interventions in Iraqi and Syrian Kurdistan.
“Physical attacks on party members, as well as the significant security concerns, particularly in the southeast, further imposed restrictions on the ability to campaign,“ said Amor.
European Left politician Martina Michels, who is also an MP in the European Parliament, observed the elections in the Kurdish city of Amed, or Diyarrbakir.
“Our election observation here in Diyarbakir gives a shocking impression. Open, disproportionate military presence outside the polling stations, masked police – that’s to intimidate,“ she said in a Facebook post.
Warning against a new influx of refugees from Turkey, German Green Party leader Cem Ozdemir said on Monday: “You can’t seriously blame (the people in Turkey) for not wanting to live in a country, which is kind of transformed into a Putin-Regime by Erdogan.”
The German-Circassian politician and member of the German parliament, has been supporting the HDP since the last elections.
On several occasions he and his party called for more support of the HDP and accused Erdogan of transforming Turkey into an autocracy.
German and European liberals also ciriticized the polls, in which the ruling AKP party that backs Erdogan won the majority needed to form a government.
“Although this victory (for AKP) brings stability to Turkey – there are clear political conditions now – it comes with a high price in terms of core values, freedom of speech and other issues,” said Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, descendant of Alexander the First of Russia and member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). He is also vice president of the European Parliament.
Tobias Huch, a German liberal politician, called for an end to Turkey’s accession process for the European Union.
“These elections were not just unfair; they were clearly manipulated. We have to bring the Accession of Turkey into the European Union to an end,” Huch said.
Just one day after the AKP won the elections, the Turkish government began a huge wave of arrests of political opponents.
On Monday, dozens of HDP members were taken into custody, after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu denounced them as “enemies of new Turkey.”
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