Press release – 265(2009)
Congress President a.i. condemns electoral violence in Turkey
Strasbourg, 30.03.2009 – “I condemn the violence which eruptedduring local elections in Turkey on 29 March, leaving six people deadand some hundred injured,” Ian Micallef, President a.i. of the Councilof Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, stressed today.
“It is both tragic and absurd when the ultimate exercise indemocracy – elections – led to bloodshed. A public inquiry must becarried out as soon as possible into the causes of this violence, whichtarnished the quality of the system of democratic elections, and thoseresponsible must be brought to justice. There can be no justificationfor violence, which must be renounced as a way of bringing attention orputting pressure to solve existing problems,” he said.
President a.i. Micallef regretted the loss of life and expressed hiscondolences to the families of the victims and the Turkish authorities.
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