Turkish local elections; Two Afghans are also competing

Turkish local elections;  Two Afghans are also competing

With the local elections in Turkey approaching, two Afghan Turks have independently nominated themselves to win the municipal offices of Zetin Borno and Beylikduzu districts of Istanbul.

Local elections in Turkey will be held on March 31 of this year.

One of these candidates is 53-year-old Aslan Islam Turkman. He was born in Kandahar province of Afghanistan and immigrated to Turkey at a very young age. He is currently a candidate for the municipal office in Zetin Borno district of Istanbul.

The Zeytin Borno region is considered the center of Turkey’s working class and a number of refugee communities, including Uzbeks, Uyghurs, and Afghans. Mr. Turkman, who has been living in this area for the past 35 years, relies on the support of around 15,000 Turkmen and Uzbek Afghans, as well as Kazakhs and Uyghurs.

He said in an interview with the Voice of America: “My aim is not to get people’s votes as an ‘Afghan Turk’, but I am here to serve all my people. For me, only Tabr and tribe are priority. No. I organize my activities in such a way that the whole society benefits from them.

Mr. Turkman said that he did not face any case of racism during his campaign. He added: “My aim is to live here in unity. I have never seen anyone come and say that you are not originally from here. However, some try to make it so. Get votes from the people by doing propaganda.”

On the other hand, 36-year-old Izzat Sadat is a candidate for the mayorship in Beylikduzu area of ​​Istanbul, where many Afghan refugees live.

Sadat, who immigrated to Turkey from Jawzjan province of Afghanistan 20 years ago, says that there is discrimination against Afghans living in Turkey. He said that the aim is to eliminate this negative idea here.

He said in an interview with Voice of America: “Afghans living in Turkey are not only people who came here illegally after the fall of the republican system in Afghanistan. I want to break this perception.”

Mr. Sadat added: “There are Afghan businessmen in Turkey who have employed 500 to 600 people in their businesses. I want to make this clear, as some Turkish people in European countries such as Germany and Switzerland They serve in political positions, as well as Afghan-Turkish citizens are good and effective people for this country.

Sadat says that he has experienced anti-immigrant sentiments and racism in Turkey, but he said that during the campaign, people have promised him assurance and support.

But looking at the results of the previous elections, the chances of Mr. Sadat and Turkmen Islam winning in Zytin Borno and Belikduzu are slim, because Zytin Borno is a stronghold of the ruling Justice and Development Party, while Beylikduzu has been in power since 2014. The Justice and Development Party is governed by the main opposition party (CHP).

In the 2019 elections in Zeitin Borno, the ruling Justice and Development Party got 50.42 percent of the votes, and the main opposition to the ruling Justice and Development Party (CHP) in Belikduzu got 56.33 percent of the votes.

According to the data of the Turkish Statistics Agency, 164,131 Afghan citizens lived in Turkey in 2023, and 13,068 more Afghan refugees have immigrated to the country by the end of this year.

On the other hand, Turkish officials in refugee affairs said that 68,687 Afghan refugees have been expelled from the country due to illegal migration to Turkey.

Source link