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Migrants prepare to vote in Turkey. Shooting: BNT
Thousands of Bulgarian emigrants are preparing to vote in Turkey, despite the national lockdown, which is in effect on Saturday and Sunday throughout Turkey, BNT reported.
Istanbul is empty, but on election day for Bulgarians it will be possible. No queues are expected in front of the polling stations.
For the first time in 30 years, thousands of Bulgarian emigrants in Istanbul’s Avcilar district will vote not in their traditional school, but in a new one. After 4 p.m., the section was sealed.
There is a section in Avcalar.
On the streets of the neighborhood, the municipality is urging people to vote. There is stirring material for one party. According to observers, the emigrants’ vote is unified, unlike in 2017.
At that time, Turkey cast some 29,000 votes and they were divided into two parties. However, I do not expect a split in this election. The majority of the votes will go to one party, said Nahide Deniz, BNT correspondent in Istanbul.
There are 500 applications to vote in Avcalar, all over Istanbul – 21,000, the sections are 7, the activity is the big question mark.
People are afraid to go abroad and, incidentally, in the previous elections some 30,000 Bulgarian citizens voted here in the polling stations. Now I think it will cut this by more than half: 15-20,000, says Ismail Shahin, editor-in-chief of the Milliyet newspaper.
This year, our emigrants will be able to vote with preloaded declarations, which will make things easier for them. But there are 35 sections, which, according to the emigrants, is not enough.
Queues are also expected in Bursa, where there are more sections in Turkey – eight.
For now, municipalities say they do not organize buses with voters to Bulgaria, but rather seek to facilitate voting here, said Dr. Kader Ozlem, professor of international relations at Bursa University.
Nobody asked us for buses to go to Bulgaria. We are doing our best with expatriate companies to vote here, said Turan Hancherli, mayor of Avcalar district in Istanbul.
Due to the full quarantine in Istanbul, the police detained everyone who left without a reason.
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