TURKEY: An independent Kurdish candidate casts her vote in Turkish elections

Independent Kurdish candidate Aysel Tugluk casts her vote in Turkish parliamentary elections Kurdish independent candidate in Turkey's parliamentary election Aysel Tugluk cast her vote in the southern Turkish city of Diyarbakir on Sunday (July 22). Just before voting, Tugluk, a Democratic Society Party (DTP) leader, said: "Let my vote be beneficial to the Democratic Republic and to the union of our people." The AK Party is widely expected to win the election but the new parliament could have up to 50 independent lawmakers, mostly from the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) who are running as independents to beat the 10 percent threshold. The DTP backs more political and cultural rights for Turkey's large ethnic Kurdish population but is viewed by many Turks as a tool of outlawed separatist Kurdish militants.

ITN Source | July 22, 2007

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