EU hails high turnout in Turkey’s election

BRUSSELS/ANKARA

EU Foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini gives a joint press conference with Tunisian Prime Minister (unseen) after their meeting on May 27, 2015 at EU headquarters in Brussels. AFP Photo

The European Union has welcomed the high turnout in parliamentary elections that was held in EU-candidate Turkey on June 7, while also expressing readiness to make progress in relations between Brussels and Ankara.

“Turkey’s general election on June 7 took place with a record 86 percent turnout, [showing] a clear sign of strength in the Turkish democracy,” said EU High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini and EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn in a joint statement released June 8.

“The fact that all major political parties obtained representation in the new parliament is particularly important,” the two senior EU officials said, in an unveiled reference to the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) achievement in becoming the first-ever party oriented toward the Kurdish issue to pass the notoriously tough 10-percent threshold for a political party to acquire representation in parliament.

“We now look forward to the swift formation of a new parliament and government, and to working together closely. The coming period offers opportunities for further strengthening the EU-Turkey relationship and to advance in broadening EU-Turkey cooperation in all fields, for the benefit of all our citizens,” said Mogherini and Hahn.

They also noted that they “look forward to hearing” preliminary findings and conclusions which would be announced by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) later on June 8.