Turkey asks Germany to use Berlin Olympic stadium for presidential elections

BERLIN

The new Olympic Stadium has the highest all-seated capacity in Germany at 74,500. Turkey has asked German authorities to use the stadium.

Turkey has applied to the German authorities to use the Berlin Olympic Stadium as a venue for the local Turkish community to vote in the August presidential elections.

A spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry said they had conveyed the offer from Turkey’s Berlin Embassy to the Interior Ministry for a security review.

According to reports, seven major election centers have been identified in Hannover, Dusseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Munich and Berlin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had pledged to support Turks casting their votes when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Germany in February.

The German capital Berlin is home to some 140,000 Turks who will be eligible to vote when Turkey holds its first ever direct elections for the presidency.

Erdoğan is planning a tour of European countries such as Germany, France, the Netherlands and Belgium throughout May, in an attempt to woo Turks living abroad. His Justice and Development Party (AKP) will particularly focus on Germany, which has around 1.5 million potential Turkish voters overall.

According to figures provided by the Supreme Election Board (YSK), there are around 2.6 million Turkish voters living abroad, around 5 percent of the total electorate.