After numerous pre-election attacks by the PKK, this time an imam was driven to leave a village in a southeastern province, as pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) supporters have threatened him for not casting his vote for the HDP in June 7 general elections.
Since pressure and death threats by pro-PKK HDP supporters still continue to target locals living in Turkey's southeastern provinces after the June 7 general election results were announced, some people have had no choice but to abandon their homes. Halil Özdemir, the imam of Örencik village in the southeastern Mardin province, left the village after being subjected to death threats following the election results that revealed there were two votes not cast for the HDP.
Indicating that he had to relocate due to fear for his life after the elections, Özdemir said, "The elections were not free here. Pro-PKK HDP supporters were saying ‘There won't be a vote for any other party except the HDP in the village; they will only be for HDP.' After it was found that one vote was for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and one for the Free Cause Party (HÜDA PAR), they started to spread rumors. They wanted to point out people as targets." He also remarked that some pro-PKK HDP supporters began to slander him, claiming that he is affiliated with ISIS.
The fact that the AK Party reportedly received one vote only in 1400 ballot boxes of three Kurdish-populated cities in the June 7 general elections casts doubt on the reliability of the conditions of the elections in southeastern Turkey. Regarding the reliability of the elections, AK Party's Mardin deputy Orhan Miroğlu stated before that there is a mechanism to maintain pressure on local people that hindered the elections from being called free and fair. "In many provinces, locals were accounted for four to five votes favoring the AK Party. In Kızıltepe, because of this issue, the AK Party received zero votes in 70 polls. Even one vote is accounted for," he said.
