Men caught with empty envelopes in Amed

As voting continues in Amed, a man named Cengiz Keleş and another one with him who claimed they were from the YSK were seen moving about in the Mesut Yılmaz Elementary School with empty voting envelopes in their hands.

As citizens started to vote in the early morning, a man named Cengiz Keleş and another unidentified man were seen moving about in the Mesut Yılmaz Elementary School with empty voting envelopes in their hands. The men were caught by HDP and CHP witnesses and handed over to the police.

CHP ballot witness Doğan Hatun said the following on the incident: “I am responsible for this building for the CHP. As I was going through the classrooms, I saw a man with empty YSK envelopes in his hands. I saw him going from classroom to classroom distributing these envelopes, even though we didn’t have any missing envelopes. We tried to stop him, he said they were put on duty ‘by the judge’. We told him that we spoke with the judges too, and that there is no such practice. Then they tried to run, but we caught them and handed them over to the police. The man whose last name was Keleş threatened me. We stopped them as they were trying to steal votes. All friends at the ballots should be aware in case something like this happens in other schools.”

Cengiz Keleş, who claimed he was sent by the YSK (Supreme Board of Elections), was held for a while by the police, who called the judge on duty when Keleş claimed he was given the task by him. The judge told the police he gave no such duty.

Protested by voters and ballot officers, Keleş and the man with him were escorted out of the school by the police.

HDP Amed parliamentary candidate Garo Paylan, DBP Amed Co-chair Ibrahim Çiçek and HDP Amed Co-chair Filiz Buluttekin went to the school to monitor the developments.