Van Police Department has assigned police teams for each AKP parliamentary candidate to guard them during their election campaigns, following requests made by the candidates.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Sabahattin Öztürk, accompanied by Gendarme  Commander Abdullah Atay and Head of Police, Celalettin Lekesi, held a meeting on 18 April with the governors of Van, Hakkari, Agri and Mus and the head of police and gendarme in these Kurdish cities to discuss security for the 7 June elections. The outcome of this meeting, which was called a “Regional Election Security Meeting” has become apparent. Van Police Department has deployed a large number of police to the city under the pretext of security measures, with temporary assignments of around 30 policemen and 5 superintendents to each police station.

The temporarily assigned policemen will guard the AKP MP candidates during their election campaign in the villages and districts of Van, while it is said that special anti-terror forces and 5 police in plain clothes will accompany the AKP candidates to each village and district. While these measures are being taken only for AKP candidates, it is reported that security measures in the coming days will be increased.