Former Turkish Minister for Communications, Transport and Maritime Affairs Binali Yildirim has said that “Close to 100 thousand Turkish nationals are eligible to cast their vote in the TRNC”. Yildirim was paying a visit to the TRNC and met with President Dervis Eroglu, ‘Bayrak Radio’ reported online.
President Eroglu pointed out that the fact the Turkish electorate could now [for the first time] vote in a new president was evidence of a democratic state in existence.
The former Turkish minister, Yildirim said that they would be informing Turkish nationals of their right to cast a vote from the TRNC and added: “We will also be meeting with various civil society organisations and associations to discuss technical details as it is the first time the people will be electing their own President”.
TRNC Prime Minister Yorgancioglu who was also present at the meeting said:
“It is important to inform the people as this is the first time the elections are being held like this and therefore your visit to the ‘TRNC’ is very important. There are close to 93 thousand Turkish origin nationals in the country who can vote. 60 thousand of them hold dual citizenships and 35 thousand are here with working permits. Therefore it is important to properly inform people on how they can cast their vote”. Yorgancioglu said.
He also wished the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan success in the elections.
The Turkish presidential elections are scheduled for 10th August. Should none of the candidates get over 50% of the votes, the top two contestants will go through to the second round on 24th August.
